
Qass. 
Book. 



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IJSEFCl W08KS FOR THE. PE0P11....S0. V. 

iiMi I mil II II II I II Ml III II II mill nil 111 I III 1 1 II I mil 1 1 II II nil II! Ill nil nil I III 




TRINCIPLES 



OF 



POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



BY WILLIAM ATKINSON. 



INTRODUCTION 



BY HORACE GREELEY. 



• NEW-YORK: 

GREELEY & McELRATH, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS.;] 

CINCINNATI : W. H. MOORE & CO. 

NEW-ORLEANS : NORMAN, STEELE & CO. 

1843. 




PRICE TWENTi-FlVB CENTS. 



PRINCIPLES 



POLITICAL ECONOMY 

OR, THE 

LAWS OF THE FORMATION 



NATIONAL WEALTH, 

DEVELOPED BY MEANS OF THE CHRISTIAN LAW OF GOVERNMENT. 

BEING THE SXJBSTANC6 OF A CASE DELIVERED TO THE HAND-LOOM WEAVERS' COMMISSION. 



BY WILLIAM ATKINSON. 



AN INTRODUCTION 

BY HORACE GREELEY; 
TREATING OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, ,, ^,^ , 



ADAPTATION OF ITS PRINCIPLES TO THE CONDITION OF OUR OWN COUNTR|, 



NEW-YORK ; 

GREELEY & McELRATH, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS. 

NEW-ORLEANS: NORMAN, STEELE, & CO. 

PHILADELPHIA : ZEIBER & CO. 

CINCINNATI : WM. H. MOORE & CO. 

18 4 3. 



ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



The work herewith first presented to 
the American public, — being the sub- 
stance of a case submitted to a Commis- 
sion appointed by the British House of 
Commons to inquire into the distresses of 
the Hand-Loom Weavers, with additions 
and iUustrations, — was published in Eng- 
land in 1840 ; but no attention was called 
to it in this Country till late in 1842, when 
two copies were received from the author 
by Gen. James Tallmadge, President of 
the American Institute. (Great Britain 
produces much Political Economy for ex- 
portation, but with rare exceptions this 
is of the Free Trade school ; works de- 
fending and illustrating the Protective 
Policy are there deemed adapted to the 
Home market alone.) — This work, having 
been placed by Gen. T. in the Library of 
the American Institute, the attention of 
several thinkers and practical men was 
speedily attracted to it, and by them it 
was regarded as eminently adapted to 
correct some of the most popular and spe- 
cious of the errors prevailing with respect 
to Political Economy, as well as to eluci- 
date and defend some of the more import- 
ant truths of that Science which had hith- 
erto been too generally felt rather than 
clearly understood. The knowledge and 
the popularity of this work, as exhibiting 
the true Theory of a wise and benignant 
Policy for Nations with respect to the In- 
dustrial Interests of their People, gradu- 
ally extended from one to another, imtil it 
was rapidly diffused by a discriminating 



review of its contents by Mr. C. C. Haven, 
which appeared in Ilunfs Merchant's Ma- 
gazine for April of this year. A notice 
with extracts was likewise given in The 
American Laborer about the same time. 
The knowledge of the work thus imparted 
has created a very earnest if not a very 
wide-spread desire that an American Edi- 
tion should be published, in order to place 
it within the reach of those of our citizens 
to whom the heavy cost of the English 
Edition would present a formidable barrier 
to its perusal, even were it to be procured 
here at all, as it is not. Impelled by a 
profound conviction of the value of Mr. 
Atkinson's work, its eminent adaptation 
to the existing circumstances of our Coun- 
try, and earnestly desiring that its views 
should be widely disseminated, and its 
truths sink deeply into the minds of the 
American People, the tmdersigned (having 
been favored by Gen. Tallmadge with his 
copy for the purpose) have incurred the 
hazard of printing so liberal an edition, as 
will enable them to afford the work at the 
low price of twenty-five cents a copy, or 
one-tenth the cost of the English edition. 
They therefore appeal with confidence to 
all who feel an interest in the dissemina- 
tion of sound and just views of Political 
Economy, and all who are concerned in 
the Protection of our Home Industry, to 
aid by spirited efforts in the diffusion of 
this work. 

GREELEY & McELRATH, 

Tribune Office, 160 Nassan-st. 
New-VorJ;, June 1, 1843. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



In presenting to the American public an edition 
of Mr. Atkinson's work elucidating the funda- 
mental principles of PoUtical Economy, the Edi- 
tor is impelled to accompany it by a brief intro- 
ductory essay, beaiing on the progress and present 
condition of the Science herein illustrated. Hasty 
and immethodical as the multiplicity and im- 
ceasing exaction of his cares and duties as Editor 
of a Daily Journal must render it, he trusts it 
will be found not without pertinence to the matter, 
nor unworthy of the consideration of the public. 

PoUtical Economy is among the latest born of 
the Sciences. Mainly intent on the homd game 
of War, with its various reverses and only less 
ruinous successes, it is but yesterday that the 
rulers of the world discovered that they had any 
duty to perform toward Industry, other than 
to interrupt its processes by their insane con- 
tentions, to devastate its fields, and ultimately 
to consume its fruits. And when the truth did 
pierce through their scarcely pervious skulls, it 
came distorted and perverted by the resistance it 
had met, by selfish and sinister influences, so that 
it had parted with all its vitaUty, and was blend- 
ed with and hardly distinguishable firom error. 
When it began to be dimly discerned that Gov- 
ernment had a legitimate duty to perform toward 
Industry — that the latter might be cherished, im- 
proved, extended by the action of the former — 
legislators at once jumped to the conclusion that 
all possible legislation upon and interference with 
Industry must be beneficial. A Frederick the 
Great finds by experience that the introduction of 
new arts and industrial processes into liis domin- 
ions increases the activity, thrift and prosperity 
of his People ; forthwith he rushes (as Macaulay 
and the Free Trade Economists represent him) 
into the prohibition of every tiling but coin from 
abroad, and the production of every thing at 
home, without considering the influences of soil 
and climate, or the practicability of here prose- 
cuting to advantage the business so smnmarily 
established. The consequence is of course a mis- 
chievous diversion of Labor from useful and pro- 
ductive to profitless and fruitless avocations. But 
this is not the worst. Some monarch finds him- 
self unable to minister adequately to the extrava- 
gancn of suma ngviT favorite or mistress ; so he 
creates hi her iuvor'a Mv«wpui_y of tho o«ppiy 



and sale of Salt, Coffee, or whatever else is not 
already monopolized, and styles it a " regulation of 
trade," to prevent ruinous fluctuations, competi- 
tions and excesses ! Thus private ends are sub- 
served under the pretence of public good, and the 
comforts of the People abridged or withheld to 
pander to the vices and sustain the lavish prodi- 
gaUty of princes and paramours. 

From a contemplation of these abuses, pierced 
and uncovered by the expanding intelligence of 
the Eighteenth Century, the PoUtical Economy 
of the Schools was evolved. In its origin a pro- 
test against existing abuses, it shared the com- 
mon lot of all reactions, in passing impetuously 
to an extreme the opposite of the error it went 
forth to combat. From a scrutiny and criticism 
of the gross abuses of the power of Government 
over Industry, it was impelled to the conclusion 
that no such power properly existed or could be 
beneficially exercised. Thus the Science became, 
in the hands of the latest professors of the ' en- 
Ughtened ' school, a simple and sweeping nega- 
tion — a demand for incessant and universal abo- 
lisliing — a suicidal Science, demonstrating that 
to do nothing is the acme of governmental wis. 
dom, and King Log the profoundest and greatest 
of nionarchs. 

These conclusions would have staggered the 
founders of the school, and yet it is difficult to 
resist the evidence offered to show that they are 
legitimately deduced by their disciples from the 
premises those founders themselves have laid 
down. In the cases cited by Mr. Atkinson in 
this work of the comparative beneficence of 
Home Trade and Foreign, and of Resident ajid 
Non-Resident Landlords, it is plain that the dis- 
ciples are truer to their common principle in de- 
nying than their masters were in asserting the 
superior benefits of Home Trade and the Resi- 
dence of proprietors on their estates. 

There are many strong reasons for believing 
that the reaction against a sinister and false re- 
gulation of Industry has spent its force, and that 
the error which denies that any regulation can 
be beneficent, equally with the fraud which has 
cloaked schemes of personal aggrandisement un- 
der the pretence of guiding Industry aright, will 
cease to exert any practical influence over the 
affairs of nations, l^xperiencc, the groat cor- 



IV 



introduction to the American Edition. 



rector of delusive theories, has long since settled 
this point, tliat any attempt to grow Coffee in 
Greenland or dig Coal from the White Mountams 
must prove abortive; that same Experience, it 
seems most obvious, has by tliis time established 
that it is wise, it is well, for each nation to draw 
from its own soil every desirable and necessary 
product which that soil is as well calculated to 
produce as any other, and to fabricate within it- 
self all articles of utility or comfort which it may 
ultimately produce as advantageously — that is, 
with as little labor — as they can be steadily pro- 
duced elsewhere. To do this may require foster- 
ing legislation at first, to shield the infant 
branches of Industry against the formidable com- 
petition of their adult and muscular rivals, wlaich 
would otherwise strangle them in the cradle ; 
it may require efficient and steady Protection in 
after years, to counteract the effects of differing 
standards of money values, and different rates of 
wages for Labor — nay, of the disturbing rivalries 
and ruinous excesses of mere foreign competi- 
tion, wliich often leads to underselling at the 
door of a rival (especially if that rival be shut 
out from retaliation by duties on the other side) 
when living prices are maintained at home. A 
protected branch of Industry — cloth-making, for 
instance — might thus overthrow an unprotected 
rival interest in another nation vnthout selling its 
products at an average price lower than that of 
the latter. Having its own Home Market secu- 
red to it, and unlimited power given it to disturb 
and derange the markets necessarily relied on by 
its rival, it would inevitably cripple and destroy 
that rival as the mailed and practiced swordsman 
cuts down in the field of combat the unarmed 
and fenceless adversary whom fate or fatuity has 
thrown within his reach. Those who profess an 
inability to see how Protection can benefit the 
producer if it docs not raise the average price of 
his product contradict not merely the dictates of 
a uniform experience but the clearest deductions 
of reason. The artisan who makes piano fortes, 
flay at $300 each, having a capricious demand 
for some twenty or thirty per year, and liable at 
any time to be thrown out of business by the im- 
portation of a cargo of piano fortes — will ho pro- 
duce them cheaper or dearer, think 3'ou, if the 
foreign rivalry is cut off, and lie is thence enabled 
to find a steady market for some twelve instiu- 
ments per month ? Admit that his natural ten- 
dency will he to cling to the old price, and there- 
by secure larger profits — tliis will be speedily 
corrccted.by a Home Competition, which will in. 
crease until the profits are reduced to the average 
profits of buBiuCBU. It will not bo in llic jKJWCr 



of the Home as it is of the Foreign rival interests 
to depress liis usual prices without depressing 
their own — to destroy his market yet presence 
and even extend theirs — to crush him by means 
of cheaper Labor than he can obtain. If van- 
quished now it will be because his capacity is 
unequal to that of his rivals — not that circum- 
stances inevitably predict and prepare his over- 
throw. No inteUigent man can doubt that News- 
papers, for example, are cheaper in tlxis country 
than they would be if Foreign journals could 
rival and supplant them here as Foreign cloths 
may rival and supplant in our mau-kets the cor. 
responding products of our own Country. The 
rule will very generally hold good that those ar. 
tides of Home Production which cannot .be 
rivaled by Importation are and will be relatively 
cheaper than those of a different character. 

And here it may be well to speak more directly 
of the discrepancy between Theory and Practice 
which is so often affirmed in connection with our 
general subject. There are many who think the 
theory of Free Trade the correct, or at any rate 
the more plausible one, but who yet maintain, be- 
cause they know by experience, that it fails prac- 
tically of securing the good it promises. Hence 
they rush to the conclusion that a policy may be 
faultless in theory yet pernicious in practice, than 
which no idea can be more erroneous and perni- 
cious. A good theory never yet failed to vindi. 
cate itself in practical operation — never can fail 
to do so. A theory can only fail because it is de- 
fective, unsound — lacks some of the elements 
which should have entered into its composition. 
In other words, the practical working is bad only 
because the theory is no better. 

Let us consider, for illustration, the fundamen- 
tal maxim of Free Trade, ' Buy where you can 
buy ciieapest.' This sounds well and looks plau- 
sible. But let us hold it up to the light : What 
is ' cheapest V Is it the smallest sum in coin ? 
No — very far from it ; and here is where the the- 
ory gives way. AVe do not, as a nation, produce 
coin — do not practically pay in coin. We pay 
for products in products, and the real question 
first to be resolved is, Whence can we obtain the 
desired fabrics for the smaller aggregate of our 
products — from the Foreign or the Home manu- 
facturer ? Take Woolen Clotiis, for instance : 
We require of tiiem, siiy One Hundred Millions' 
worth per anninn. Now tiic point to be consid- 
ered is not where we could buy most cloths for 
One Hundred Millions in money, for that we have 
not to pay ; but where our nurphis product oC 
Pork, Lumber, Dairy Produce, Sheep, Wnnl, &.0; 
&c. will buv the vcQuirc.t ciuiU most advanta 



Buy where you can Cheapest.' 



geously. The Nominal or Money price paid for 
it may be Eighty MilUons or One Hundred and 
Twenty MilUons, and yet the larger sum be easier 
paid than the smaller — that is, with a smaller 
amount of our Produce. The relative Money 
prices do not determine the real question of cheap- 
ness at all— they may serve, if implicitly relied on, 
to blind us to the merits of that question. In the 
absence of all regulation, the relative Money 
price will of course determine whether the cloths 
shall be imported or produced at home, but not 
whether they should be. 

But this is not all. We may obtain a desired 
product to-day and fitfully cheaper abroad, and 
yet pay more for it in the average than if we 
produced it steadily at home. The question of 
cheapness is not determined by a single transac- 
tion but by many,* 

And again : We cannot buy to advantage 
abroad that wliich, being bought abroad, leaves 
whole classes of our people to famish at home. — 
For instance ; Suppose one hundred miUions of 
garments arc made by the women of this country 
yearly at an average price of twenty-five cents 
each, and these could be bought abroad for two- 
thirds of -that sum ; Would it be wise so to buy 
them ? Free Trade asserts that it would — that 
all the labor so tlurown out of employment would 
be promptly absorbed in other and more product- 
ive occupations. But sad experience, common 
sense, humanity, say Not so. The truth is very 
different from this. The industry thus thrown 
out of its time-worn channels would find or wear 
others slowly and with great difficulty ; mean- 
time the hapless makers, no longer enabled to sup. 
port themselves by labor, must be supported in 
idleness. By indirect if not by pubUc charity 
they must somehow be subsisted ; and our citi- 
zens will have bought their garments some 
twenty per cent, lower from abroad, but will be 
compelled to pay tmother price for them in chari- 
ties and poor-rates. Such is the effect of ' Buy- 
ing where we can buy cheapest' in a low, short, 
sighted, miserly, Free Trade view of cheapness. 

But why, it is asked, should not a Nation pur- 
chase of others as freely as individuals of the 
same nation are permitted to trade with each 
other ? Fairly as this question would seem to be 
put, there is a fatal fallacy linking beneath its 
use of the term ' nation.' A nation should al- 
ways buy where it can (in the long run) ' buy 
cheapest' or most advantageously; where that 
may be is a question for the nation, through its 
legal organism, to decide. The query mistakenly 



Madison's Messages, 18U-15-16. 



assumes that the immediate, apparent interest of 
each individual purchaser is always identical 
with the interest of the community, which com- 
mon sense as well as experience refutes. The 
lawer or clergyman in IlUnois may obtain his coat 
of the desired quality cheaper (for less money) 
from Paris than it can be fabricated in Illinois, 
yet it by no means follows that it is the interest 
of Illinois to purchase her coats or cloths from 
Europe — quite the contrary is the fact. Nay, 
it would be easy to show that the real, permanent 
interest of the lawyer or clergyman himself — cer- 
tainly of his class — is subserved by legislation 
which encourages and protects the home producer 
of those articles, not only because they improve 
in quality and are reduced in price under such a 
policy, but because the sources of his own pros- 
perity and income are expanded or dried up as the 
Industry of his own region is employed, its capa- 
cities developed, and its sphere of production en- 
larged and diversified. Let us illustrate this truth 
more fully : 

The State of Illinois, for example, is primarily 
grain-growing, producing a surplus of five mil- 
lions of bushels of Wheat and Indian Corn annu- 
ally, worth in New-York $4,000,000, and requir- 
ing in return ten millions of yards of Cloths of 
various kinds and quaUties, costing in New- York 
a like sum. In the absence of all legislation, she 
purchases and consumes mainly English cloths, 
which can be transmitted from Leeds to Chicago 
in a month, at a cost, including insurance and in- 
terest, of not more than five per cent, and there 
undersell any Ilhnois fabricator of cloths equal in 
quality and finish. Is it the real, permanent in- 
terest of Illinois (disregarding the apparent, mo- 
mentary interest of this or that class of persons 
in Illinois) to persist in Free Trade ? or, on the 
other hand, to concur in such legislation as will 
ensure the production of her cloths mainly at 
home ? Here is opened the whole question be- 
tween Free Trade and Protection. 

The advocate of Free Trade insists that the so- 
lution of the problem HeS plain on the surface. — 
The British broadcloth is offered in abundance 
for $3 per yard ; the American is charged twen- 
ty per cent, higher, and cannot be afforded for 
three dollars. The true course is obvious — 
• Buy where you can buy cheapest.' But the ad- 
vocate of Protection answers that the real, in- 
trinsic question of cheapness is not determined by 
the market price of the rival fabrics in coin — spe- 
cie not being the chief staple of Illinois, nor pro- 
duced there at all — but where may the required 
Cloth be bought with the smallest amount of her 
Grain ? Is not this true ? What avails it to H- 



Introduction to the American Edition^ 



linois that she may have Cloth from England 
twenty per cent, cheaper if she is, by purchasing 
her supply there, constrained to sell her Grain at 
half price or less ? Let us see, then, v.-hat is the 
inevitable fact : 

That we cannot buy, perpetually, without pay- 
ing— that in paying for a single article we must 
regard, not how much the payment is cailsd, but 
how much it is, (that is, the amount of Products 
absorbed in paying for, or of the Labor expended 
in producing them)— we assume to- be obvious or 
sufficiently demonstrated. Let us now consider 
what will be the inevitable cost to lUinois— the 
real cost— of one million yards of broadcloth ob- 
tained from England as compared with the same 
cloth produced at home. 

The average value of Wheat throughout the 
world is not far from CHae dollar per bushel, vary. 
intr largely, of course, in different localities ^ in 
the heart of a grain-growing region, away from 
manufactures or navigation, it must fall greatly 
below that standard; in other districts, where 
consumption considerably exceeds production, 
rendering a resort to importation necessary, the 
price rises above the average standard. The price 
at a given point is determined by its proximity to 
a market for its surplus or a surplus for its market. 
Great Britain does not produce so much as will 
feed her own population ; hervce her average price 
must be governed by the rate at which she can 
supply her deficiency from abroad ; Illinois pro- 
duces in excess, and the price there must be gov- 
erned by the rate at wliich sho can dispose of her 
surplus, including the cost of transportation to 
an adequate market. In other words (aU regula- 
tion being thrown aside) the price which England 
must pay must be the price at the most conve- 
nient foreign marts of adequate supply, adding 
the cost of transportation ; while the grain of 11- 
linois will be worth to her its price in the ulti- 
mate market of its surplus, less tlie cost of send- 
ing it there. 

Now the great grain-growing plains of Poland 
and Southern Russia, with capacities of produc- 
tion never yet half explored, even, with Labor 
cheaper than it ever can or should be in this coun- 
try, are producing Wheat in the interior at 
fifty cents a bushel or lower, so that it ia abun- 
dantly obtained at Dantzic on the Baltic for 90 
cents per bushel and at Odessa on the Black Sea 
for 80, very nearly. With a Free Trade in grain, 
Britain can be abundantly 8upi)licd from Europe 
alone at a cost not exceeding $1,10 per bushel; 
with a competition from America, the average 
price in her ports would more probably range from 
91 to $1,06. Wliat» then, is the prospect for 11- 



linois, buying her Cloths from Great Britain and 
compelled to sell somewhere her Grain to pay 
for them I 

That she could not sell elsewhere her surplus 
to such extent as would be necessary, is obvious. 
The ability of the Eastern States to purchase thp 
produce of her fertile prairies depends on the ac- 
tivity and stability of their Manufactiu"es — de- 
pends, in short, on the market for their manufac- 
tures in the Great West. The markets to which 
v/e can resort, in the absence of the English, are 
limited indeed. In point of fact, the rule will 
iiold substantially good, though trivial exceptions 
are presented, that, i.\ order to purchase and 

PAV FOR THE MANUFACTURES OF GrSAT BrITAIN, 

Illinois must sell to that Country the great 
bulk of her surplus of agricultural produc- 
TIONS. 

The rates at wliich she must sell this surplus, 
we have already seen ; tiie cost of transporting it 
is easily computed. Seventy-five cents per bushel 
is considerably below tiie average cost of trans, 
porting Wheat from the prairies of Illinois to 
England, but that may be assumed as a fair ave- 
rage for tho next ten years, in view of the im- 
provements being made in the means of trans- 
portation. There is then left to the Illinois far- 
mer — to lUinois — thirty cents per bushel as the 
net proceeds of her surplus of Wheat or $1,500,- 
000 for the five milUons of bushels — purchasing, 
at tlu-eo dollars per yard, five hundred thousand 
yards of broadcloth. This would be the net pro- 
duct of Free Trade. 

Now the same inevitable law which depresses 
the price of Wheat in Illinois so far below that 
prevailing in England, so long as the one is 
wholly Agricultural, the other predominantly 
Manufacturing, will as surely raise the price in 
Illinois so soon and so fast as a sufficient 

MARKET FOR HER SURPLUS IS BROUGHT NEARER TO 

HER DOORS. Let that surplus be arrested by aa 
adequate market in New-England, and its price 
will rise to fifty cents a busliel ; let the supply of 
her Manufactured products be drawn by Illinois 
from ixiints West of the Allcghcnies, and it will 
rise to scventy-fivc cents ; and, whenever they 
arc mainly produced on her own territory, the 
price will have advanced to one dollar per bushel. 
In other words, the net produce of her grain to 
Illinois will be the average price throughout the 
world, less the cost of transporting it to the point 
at which an adequate mtirkct for hor surplus is 
attained. There may be casual and special cx- 
ctptions, but thieistlie fundamental law. 

Now it is evident that, though Illinois may buy 
bcr cloths for fewer dollars from England, she 



Protective Legislation Needful — ' Laissez Faire? 



xi 



can buy them with fewer bushels of Grain from 
<our own manufactories, and fewer still when the 
progress of improvement, under a steady and 
careful Protection to our Industry, shall have es- 
tablished most branches of Manufacture on her 
own soil. She may pay twenty-five per cent, 
higher nominal prices for her fabrics, and yet ob- 
tain them at one-half the actual cost at which 
she formerly obtained them from abroad. In 
other words, by bringing the producers of Cloth 
from England to America, and placing them side 
by side with the producers of Grain, she has 
eifected an enormous Saving of LAEOR-~^f that 
Labor, namely, which v/as before employed in 
transporting Grain and Cloth from continent to 
continent. One hundred thousand grain-growers 
and cloth-makers produce just as much nov/ as 
they did with four thousand miles of land and 
water between them, while they no longer require 
the services of another hundred thousand persons 
as boatmen, sailors, shippers, forwarders, &c. to 
interchange their respective products. These 
now become producers themselves. By thus di- 
minishing vastly the number of non-producers 
and adding to that of producers, the aggregate 
of production is immen-sely increased, increasing 
in like measure the dividends of Capital and the 
rewards of Labor. 

This is the process by which Protection in- 
creases the prosperity of a country, quite apart 
from its effect in discouraging ruinous fluctua- 
tions and competition, whereby thousands of 
producers are frequently thrown out of employ- 
ment and thence out of bread. It is this multi- 
plying and diversifying of the departments of 
Home Industry, bringing the farmer, the artisan, 
the manufacturer into immediate contact with 
■each other, and enabling them to interchange 
their products without the intervention of several 
non-producers, which Mr. Atkinson expresses by 
^ the term Proportion, and which he justly re- 
gards as the great end of an enlightened and 
paternal policy. To guard against the changes, 
fluctuations, depressions, which an unbounded 
competition and rivalry are sure to induce, is also 
well worthy of «ffort; but the primary aim of 
Protection is to secure a real cheapness of produc- 
tion and supply, instead of the nominal, indefinite, 
<leceptive cheapness which Free Trade obtains by 
looking to the money price only of the staples 
purchased. The train of reasoning by wliieh he 
<levelopcs and elucidates the true and permanent 
first principle of Political Economy, though very 
different in manner from the homely and desul- 
tory remarks by which we have endeavored to 



with the foregoing, and to result in thesame gen- 
eral conclusions. 

— But why, it is asked, have we need of any 
legislation on the subject, if the Home Trade and 
Home Production be so much more beneficial 
than Foreign ? The answer to this question is 
made obvious by the foregoing illustrations. The 
individual farmer, lawyer, teacher, of Illinois 
might v«th Free Trade obtain the Foreign fabrics 
cheaper than the Domestic, escaping, or seeming 
to escape, the consequent reduction in the price 
of Domestic staples which we have seen to be the 
result ef a resort to distant countries for the great 
bulk of desirable fabrics ; but the community 
could net escape it. On the other hand, the in- 
dividual might perceive clearly the true policy to 
be pursued by all ; but how could he effect its adop- 
tion except through the action of the Govern- 
ment ? The Farmer, producing a thousand bush- 
els of Grain, might see clearly that the general 
encouragement of Home Manufactures would 
build up a Home Market for Grain at a more ade- 
quate price ; but his bu3nng Domestic fabrics in- 
stead of Foreign, while importation remained un- 
restricted, and the majority purchased abroad, 
would answer no pm'pose whatever. It would 
only condemn him to sell his products for a still 
smaller return than the meagre one which Free 
Trade vouchsafed him. 

On this point it seems obvious that the incul- 
cations of our leading Political Economists must 
be revised — the solecisms which they embody 
have grown too glaring and vital to be longer en- 
dured. The distinction between real and merely 
nominal or money cheapness in marts of supply 
must be acknowledged and respected, or the flia- 
grant contrarieties of Fact and Theory will im- 
pel the practical world to distrust and ultimately 
to discard the theory and its authors. 

But not less mistaken and' sliort-sighted than 
the First Commandment of tlie Free Trade Deca- 
logue — ' Buy where you can cheapest ' — is the 
kindred precept, ' Laissez /aire ' — ' Let us alone.' 
That those who are profiting, amassing wealth 
and rolling in luxurj', from the proceeds of some 
craft or vocation gainful to them but perilous and 
fraught with evil to tho common weal, should 
strive to lift this maxim from the mire of selfish- 
ness and heartless indifference to others' woes to- 
the dignity of Statesmanship, is not remarkable; 
but that any one seriously claiming to think and 
labor for National or Social well-being should 
propound and defend it, this is as amazing as 
jamentabie. Regarded in the light of Morality, it 
cannot stand a moment : it is identical in spirit 



illustrate it, will be found to agree essentially with the sullen insolence of Cain — ' Am I my 



IniToducLion to the American Edition. 



brother's keeper ? ' If it be, indeed, a sound j munities, any consistent following of the ' Lot us 
maxim, and the self-interest of each individual — [ alone' principle, is not merely a criminal derelic- 
himself being the judge — be necessarily identical j tion from duty — it is henceforth utterly impossi- 
with the common interest, then it is difficult to | ble. Governments must be impelled by a pro- 
determine why Governments should exist at all found and wakeful regard for the common inter- 



— why constraint should in any case be put on 
the action of any rational being. But it needs 



ests of the People over whom they exercise au- 
thority, or they will not be tolerated. It is not 



not that this doctrine of ' Laisscz faire ' should j enough that they repress violence and outrage as- 
be traced to its ultimate results, as is so lucidly ' speedily as they can ; this affords no real security, 
done by Mr. Atkinson in tlie following pages, to even to those exposed to wrong-doing : they must 
i^how that it is inconsistent with any true idea of search out the causes of evil, the influences which 
the interests of Society or the duties of Govern. I impel to its perpetration, and labor zealously to 
ment. The Genius of the Nineteenth Century — effect their removal. They might reenact the 
the expanding Benevolence and all-embracing bloody code of Draco, and cover the whole land 
Sympathy of our age— emphatically repudiate | with fruitful gibbets, yet with a People destitute of 



and condemn it. Every where is Man awaking 
to a truer euid deeper regard for the welfare and 
worth of his brother. Every where is it begin- 
ning to be felt that a bare oppcriunity to live mi- 
molested if he can find and appropriate the means 
of subsistence — as some savages are reported to 
cast their new-born cliildren into the water, that 
they may save alive the sturdy who can swim, 
and leave the weak to perish — is not all that the 
community owes to its feebler and less fortunate 
members. It cannot have needed the horrible de- 
ductions of Malthus, who, admiringly following 
out the doctrine of ' Laissez faire ' to its natural 
result, declares that the earth cannot afford an 
adequate subsistence to all her human offspring, 
and that those who cannot find food without the 
aid of the community should be left to starve ! — 
to convince this generation of the radical unsound, 
ness of the premises from which such revolting 
conclusions can be drawn. Our standard Political 
Economists may theorize in this direction as dog- 
matically as they will, modestly pronouncing their 
own views liberal and enlightened, and all others 
narrow and absurd ; but though they appear to win 
the suffrage of the subtle Intellect, the great 
Heart of Humanity refuses to be thus guided — 
nay, insists on imi)clling tlie entire social machin- 
cry in an exactly opposite direction. The wide and 
wider diffusion of a public provision for General 
Education and for the support of the destitute 
Poor — inefficient as cacli may thus far have been 
— is of itself a striking instance of the triumph of 
I more benignant principle over that of ' Laissez 
faire !' The Inquiries, so vigorously and beuefi- 
ccntly prosecuted in our day, into the Moral and 
Physical, Intellectual and Social condition of the 
depressed Laboring Classes, of Great Britain es- 
pecially — of her Factory Operatives, Collierf, 
-Miners, Silk Weavers, &,c. &c., and the benefi- 
cent results v;hich liavc followed them, abundant- 
ly prove tliat, for Governments no Icbs than Com- 



Morality and Bread — nay, destitute of the former 
alone — they could not prevent the iteration of 
every crime which a depraved imagination could 
suggest. That theory of Government which af- 
firms the power to punish, yet in effect denies the 
riglit to prevent evil, will bo found as defective in 
its Economical inculcations as in its relations to 
the Moral and Intellectual wants of Mankind. 

The great principle asserted by Mr. Atkinson, 
that the Laborer has a Right of Property in tliat 
which constitutes his only means of subsistence, 
is one which cannot be too broadly affirmed or 
too earnestly insisted on. ' A man's trade is his 
estate ;' and with what justice shall one-fourth of 
the community be deprived of their means of sub- 
sistence in order that the larger number may fare 
a little more sumptuousl}' or obtain what they buy 
a little more advantageously ? The cavil at the 
abuse of this principle to obstruct the adoption of 
all labor-saving machinery, etc., does not touch 
the vitahty of the principle itself. All Property, 
in a justly constituted state, is held subject to the 
right of Eminent Domain of the State itself; — 
when the public good requires that it should be 
taken for public uses, the individual right must 
give way. Suppose it were practicable to intro- 
duce to-morrow the products of foreign needle- 
work, for instance, at such prices as tt* supplant 
utterly garments made by om* own countiy- 
women, and thereby deprive them entirely of this 
resource for a livelihood — would it be morally riglit 
to do this ? -\dnnt that the direct cost of the 
fabrics required would be considerably less, should 
we be justified in reducing a nmnerous and wor. 
lliy class, already bo meagrely rewarded, to abso- 
lute wretchedness .nnd i>aui)crism ? It does not 
seem tliat an affirmative an.'swcr can deliberately 
prDceed from any generous heart. 

We are not forgetting tliat Free Trade asserts 
that the necessary consequence of such rejection 
of the Domestic in favor of a cheaper Foreign 



Individual Effort Inadequate-— Moral Aspects. 



production would be to benefit our whole People, 
the displaced work-women included ! — that these 
would, by inevitable consequence, be absorbed in 
other and more productive employments : We 
are- only remembering that facts, bold as the 
Andes and numerous as forest-leavea, confront 
and refute this assumption. To say nothing of 
the many instances in our own country^s ex- 
perience, where the throwing out of employment 
of a whole class of our citizens, owing to the 
overwhelming influx of Foreign fabrics rivaling 
theirs, has been followed, not by an increased, 
but a diminished demand and reward for labor in 
other avocations, we need but refer to the noto- 
rious instance cited by Mr. Atkinson, upon the 
most unimpeachable Free Trade authority — that 
of the destruction of the Hand-Loom Manufac- 
tures of India through the introduction of the 
cheaper product of the English power-looms. 
Not only v/ere the Hand-Loom Weavers them- 
selves reduced to beggary and starvation by the 
change — ^no demand whatever for their labor 
arising to take the place of that which has been 
destroyed — but other classes were inevitably in- 
volved in their calamity, while none in India 
realized any perceptible benefit imless it were a 
very few ' merchant princes,' who fed and fat- 
tened on the misery unto starvation of millions of 
their doomed countrymen. 

And here, as every where, it is observable that 
no individual action could have arrested the 
mighty evil. If every person intelligent enough 
to perceive the consequences of encouraging the 
Foreign instead of the Domestic fabric had early 
and resolutely resolved never to use any but the 
latter, and had scrupulously persevered in the 
course so resolved on, what would it have effect- 
ed ? Nothing. It would have been but a drop 
in the bucket. But an independent Government 
of India, vdth intelligence to understand and 
virtue to discharge its duties to the People under 
Jts protecting care, would have promptly met the 
Foreign fabric with an import duty sufficient to 
prevent its general introduction, at the same time 
prompting, if needful, and lending every aid to 
the exertions of its own manufacturers to imitate 
the labor-saving machinery and processes by 
which the foreigner was enabled to undersell the 
home-producer of cotton fabrics on the very soil 
to which the cotton-plant was indigenous, and 
from which the fibre was gathered for the Eng- 
lish market. Such a Government wouJd have 
perceived that, in the very nature of things, it 
could not be permanently advantageous to the 
great working mass of either People that the 
Cotton should be collected and transported from 

A* 



the plains of India about twice the diameter of 
the globe to England, there fabricated into cloths, 
and thence, at some two years' end, be found dif. 
fused again over those very plains of India, to 
clothe its original producers. Obviously, here is 
an enormous waste of time and labor to no end 
of general beneficence— ^a waste which would be 
avoided by planting and fostermg to perfection 
the manufacture of the Cotton on the soil where 
it grew and among the People who produced and 
must consume it. This policy would be prose, 
cuted in no spirit of envy or hostility to the Eng. 
lish manufacturer — very far from it — but in per- 
fect conformity to the dictates of universal as 
well as national well-being. The cost of these 
two immense voyages, and the commercial com- 
plications which they involve, though falling un- 
equally on the Agricultural and the Manufacturing 
community respectively, yet fall in some measure 
on the latter as well as the former ; they inevitably 
diminish the intrinsic reward of Labor on either 
side and increase the mischances which affect the 
steadiness of demand for that Labor and intercept 
that reward. Protection, as we have seen in con- 
sidering the argument of cheapness, must increase 
the actual reward of both classes of producers, by- 
diminishing the number of non-producers and the 
amount of their subtraction, as such, from the 
aggregate produced. Yet this is the poUcy stig. 
matized by the self-styled liberal and enhghtened 
Political Economists as narrow and partial ! — as 
looking only to local and regardless of general 
good ! 

The Moral effects of Protection, as resulting in 
a more intimate relation and a more symmetrical' 
proportion between the various departments of In- 
dustry, cannot be too strongly insisted on. Capi- 
tal, under the present system of Society, has a 
natural tendency to centralization ; and the znanu» 
facture of all light and costly fabrics, especially 
if their cheap fabrication involves the employ, 
ment of considerable capital, is snbject to a simi- 
lar law. With universal JVee Trade, those 
Countries which are now foremost in Manufac- 
tares, especially if they at the same time possess 
(as is the case) a prep<5nderance in Capital also, 
will retain and extend that ascendancy for an in- 
definite period. They will seem to afford the 
finer fabrics cheaper than they can be elsewhere 
produced ; they will at any rate crush with ease 
eill daring attempts to rival them in the produc- 
tion. That this seeming cheapness will be wholly- 
deceptive we have already seen, but that is not to 
our present purpose. The tendency of Free Trade 
is to confine Agriculture and Manufactures to dif- 
ferent spheres ; to make of one country or section 



JtlT 



Introduciion to the American Edition. 



a Cotton plantation ; of another a Wheat field ; 
of a third a vast Sugar estate ; of a fourth an 
immense Manufactory, &c. &c. One inevitable 
effect of tliis is to render the Laborer more depend- 
ent on the Capitalist or Emplo3'er than he other- 
wise would be ; to make the subsistence of whole 
classes depend on the caprices of Trade — the en- 
durance of Foreign prosperity and the steadiness 
of Foreign tastes. The number of hirelings must 
be vastly greater under this policy than that which 
brings the Farmer, the Manufacturer, the Artisan 
into immediate vicinage and daily contact with 
each other, and enables them to interchange their 
products in good part without invoking the agency 
of any third party, and generally without being 
taxed on whatever they consume to defray the 
expense of vast transportation and of the infinite 
complications of Trade. A Comitry or extensive 
District whose product is mainly exported can 
rarely or never boast a substantial, intelligent and 
virtuous Yeomanry : the condition of the Laborer 
is too precarious and dependent— his average re- 
ward too rneagre. It may have wealthy Capital. 
ists and Merchants, but never a numerous Middle 
Class or a flourishing, increasing proportion of 
small but independent proprietors. The fluctua- 
tions of supply and demand soon reduce all but 
the few to the dead level of indigence and a pre- 
carious dependence on wages for a subsistence, 
unless prevented by absolute and undisguised 
Slavery. 

But not alone in its influences on the pecunieiry 
condition and physical comforts of the mass is the 
state of things produced by Free Trade conducive 
\m their Social degradation. The external influ- 
ences by which they are visibly surrounded are 
likewise adverse to their Intellectual develop. 
ment and Moral culture. The Industry of a 
People is, to a far greater extent than has been 
imagined, an integral and important part of its 
Education. The child whose infancy is passed 
amidst the activity of a diversified Industry — wlio 
sees the various pro",e8SC8 of Agriculture, Manu- 
factures, Art, in progtogs all around it, will be 
drawn out to a clearer aij larger maturity of in. 
tellcct — a greater fullness ot being — will be more 
certain to discover and ado},t his own proper 
function in life — his sphere of highest possible 
usefulness — than one whose early years are passed 
in familiarity with the narrower range of exertion 
which any one branch of industry can afford. 
Foreign as this consideration may be to the 
usual range of Economic Science, it is too vitally 
important to be disregarded. 

If the writer of this Introduction shall be 
judged to push tlic doctrine of Protection still far. 



ther them the greater number of those who have 
advocated it — farther than Mr. Atkinson has 
done in the following treatise — he will of course 
be alone held responsible. If it were proper in 
this place to criticise the productions of an au^ 
thor whom he is thus taking the liberty of intro- 
ducing to the American public, he would say 
that wherever and wherein he should be inclmed 
to dissent from any of Mr. Atkinson's deductions, 
he woidd differ still farther from those of the op- 
posite school. If Mr. A. ever fails fully to satisfy 
him, it is where he accedes too easily to the as- 
sumptions of the Free Trade Economists. Thus 
in agreeing so readily that the ability to give 
employment to Labor is always in proportion to 
the amount of Capital, and that the increase of 
Capital as compared with Population necessarily 
leads to an increase of Wages, Mr. A. admits 
what I can by no means assent to. It is quite 
enough to say that such ought to be the result in 
a perfect state of Society ; that it is the result 
is plainly contradicted by glaring facts. The 
French Revolution diminished greatly the aggre- 
gate of Property in France as compared with its 
Population, yet the average rewards of Labor 
were enhanced thereby. The amount of Capital 
as compared to Population is less in America 
than in England, yet the rewards of Labor arc 
here higher. On the contrary, there are many 
instances where the wealth of a People has in- 
creased yet the condition and rewards of its La» 
borers, with the demand for Labor, have receded. 
Political Economy has yet to take to itself a 
broader field than that of discovering the means 
whereby the aggregate wealth of a nation may 
be increased ; it must consider also how its Labor 
may be most fully and equally rewarded, and by 
what means the largest proportion of the aggre^ 
gate increase of Wealth and comforts may be 
secured to those who have produced them. 

The present attitude of Statesmen and of Na- 
tions with regard to Political Economy cannot 
be suffered to pass %vithout remark. The writings 
of the Free Trade Economists are found in every 
considerable Library ; they form the text books 
on their theme of every College ; tlie liberally 
educated Youth of every land imbibe their doc- 
trines witli unquestioning conviction, and go 
forth on the stage of action to shape the legisla- 
tion of the world to their requirements. One 
would suppose that any given ten years would 
suffice to banish every vestige of Protective re- 
gulation from the earth ? But what is the result ? 
When our students begin to reduce their theories 
to practice, they discover that they do not answer 
their expectations — that, from some cause or 



Changes in Nalional Polity. 



another, tliey work contrawise from what was so 
sanguinely anticipated. They hesitate — they 

pause they are compelled to change their 

ground. Thus many who entered upon public 
life the admiring, undoubting disciples of Smith 
arid Say, have been brought to change their 
course in later years, and confess that, after all, 
the Great Frederick, and Napoleon, and Pitt, 
and our own prominent Statesmen, were not so 
obtuse on the subject of Political Economy as 
they had supposed them. The changes from 
Free Trade to Protection, among those practi- 
cally conversant with the affairs of Nations and 
the effects of legislative measures have been 
striking and continual ; the record of Mr. Hus- 
kisson's change of ground, as traced by Mr. 
Atkinson, is most instructive ; while in this 
Country similar changes have been numerous — 
that of Mr. Webster being among the most re- 
markable. On the other hand, Mr. Calhoun 
affords almost the only instance of a great 
Statesman who, after having been early in pub- 
lic life a champion of Protection, has been found 
in later years an advocate of unconditional, un- 
reciprocated Free Trade. 

At this moment, while the praises of Free 
Trade are chanted in Universities, and reiterated 
in the halls of Legislation, it is obvious that they 
make no real impression on the conduct of na- 
tions, but each is sedulously exercising increased 
vigilance in sustaining existing branches of In- 
dustry, and fostering new ones, to vigor and pros- 
perity. While Great Britain was impelled, during 
the last year, to make some real and more nominal 
reductions of her rates of duties, to prevent the 
entire shutting out of her manufactures from the 
ports of other Nations — in other words, to cherish 
her Manufactures by a reduction, as other Na- 
tions must by the retention of their Duties on 
Imports — we find that nearly every other civilized 
Nation has been earnestly engaged in revising 
-^and giving gfeater Protective efficiency to its 
Tariff. Such facts speak a language which can- 
not be misunderstood. 

It may seem, on a hasty perusal, that Mr. At- 
kinson pushes the principle of sustaining every 
existing interest or investment of Capital and 
Labor to the verge of a Chinese conservatism — that 
he would have a Standing Army kept up and a 
National Debt continued, from dread of the evil 
which must follow their discharge. But such an 
impression does injustice to the inculcations of 
our author, and is utterly forbidden by the princi- 
ples on which he rests. In the case of a Standing 
Army of one hundred thousand men, no longer 
required by the exigencies of the nation, a wise 



economy, a rigid adherence to the principle educed 
by him, would dictate that the whole number be 
not recklessly disbanded at once — thrown out upon 
the world with scanty means of subsistence to 
glut all the channels of Labor, derange still far- 
ther the relations of Industry, and reduce its 
average rewards below the demands of the merest 
subsistence. But such an army should be dis- 
banded gradually, providently} and every exertion 
put forth to open simultaneously new channels of 
employment, by works of Internal Improvement, 
&c. to absorb the Labor thus thrown into the gene- 
ral market as rapidly as it should be offered, thus 
preventing the calamities which would otherwise 
be inevitable. So with a National Debt. Grant 
that the existence of such a debt can in no case 
be beneficialj but the contrary, it by no means 
follows that its sudden destruction would not be 
prejudicial. Even the National Debt of Eng. 
land, enormous as it is and grinding as it must 
be, could not be sponged out to-morrow without 
decidedly increasing for a time the aggregate of 
Social misery and individual privation in that 
country. But a process of gradual and steady 
diminution to extinction would naturally be at- 
tended by the employment of the Capital so 
released in a healthful extension of Industry, the 
opening of new sources of Production and Wealth, 
furnishing increased opportunities for safe and 
beneficent investment proportioned to the increase - 
of Capital. In other words, that which, done 
rashly, and with regard only to its special purpose, 
would be productive of disorder and calamity, 
would, if accomplished more deliberately, and 
with a careful, provident regard to the preserva- 
tion of all existing interests, be conducive in its 
immediate as well as its ultimate effects to the 
general prosperity and well-being. 

If there should seem to be some discrepancy 
between the views propoimded in this Introduc- 
tion and the concluding portionof Mr. Atkinson's 
treatise with regard to the policy and wisdom of 
fostering into vitality and vigor new departments 
of Industry, a closer observation will evince that 
it is rather nominal than real. Mr. Atkinson is 
regarding the circumstances of an old countryj 
in which the formation and increase of Capital 
are necessarily slow ; while this Introduction con^ 
templates emphatically the case of our own young 
and thrifty Republic, of which the Capital is 
nearly doubled with every twenty years of peace- 
ful prosperity. Without assenting to the doctrine 
that an increase of Capital can alone justify the 
resort to new employments in a country, it is suf- 
ficient for the present purpose that the rapid 
increase and accumulation of Capital among ub 



5ivi 



introduction to the American Edition. 



iincier any sound and substantial state of business, 
imperatively dictates the enlargement of the 
scope and multiplication of the employments and 
processes of our National Industry. 

The Moral and Religious aspect given to the 
whole subject by Mr. Atkinson forms one of the 
most original and striking features of his work. 
As such considerations are happily entering more 
and more deeply into the conduct of the affairs 
of Nations, so will the happiness of their People 
be promoted and secured. Some of the Theolo- 
gical opinions propounded by Mr. Atkinson may 
contravene those of a portion of the readers of his 
treatise, but we have not felt at liberty to alter or 
abridge one iota in view of the different states of 
Theological opinion and action in England and 
in this country. The great end to be first attained 
is the consideration of the Moral as well as the 
Material view of the questions involved in Politi- 
cal Economy ; and to this end Mr. Atkinson has 
signally contributed. 

To the American public, the questions discussed 
by Mr. Atkinson are of momentous interest, in 
more than one aspect. Not merely is the science 
of Political Economy one of great intrinsic 
importance — an importance increased and in- 
creasing as the Di\asion of Labor among us 
becomes more minute, and the relations of Society 
more artificial and complicated, but it is of vital 
moment to the stability and glory of ovu- Free 
Institutions that we establish the fact that such 
questions can and will be mastered by the popular 
mind. The champions of Monarchy and Aristo- 
cracy assert that a consistent adherence to a wise 
and far-seeing National Policy is not practicable 



in a Democracy — that the multitude vwll not 
study and master the great problems which lie at 
the foundations of National well-being ; but, 
being ignorant and unstable, will be swayed 
hither and thither as demagogue adventurersi 
artfully appealing to their prejudices, exciting the 
hatred of class against class, or pandering to 
their vanity and vices, shall sec fit tb lead them. 
It becomes us to repel this assumption by facts — 
becomes us not merely with regard to our Na- 
tional character but to om- National existence. 
Thus far, it is believed, the hopes of the friends 
of Free Institutions have been fully justified. In 
no other countr}^ is the popular attention to Eco- 
nomic Science at all comparable to that of our 
oV?n People ; and, though the study of the sub- 
ject is still lamentably far from universal, it is 
obvious that a very decided progress is making 
in the investigation and understanding of this 
and kindred topics. To this underetanding we 
believe the work of Mr. Atkinson eminently cal- 
culated to contribute, though its brevity is such 
that it is necessarily confined to the development 
of principles to the exclusion of secondary con- 
siderations. This work must at least dispel that 
overweening contempt of the Protective argument 
which has been generated by the magisterial yet 
ill-considered assertions of the Free Trade Econo- 
mists. Never were the deficiencies of these 
doctors more clearly exposed, or their errors more 
succinctly refuted, than is done by Mr. A., and 
generally by a method of collation and compari- 
son essentially Socratic. We trust this work is 
destined to become widely known to our coun | 
trymen. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



On presenting the following work to the public, 
it is necessary that I should give an explanation 
' respecting the form in which it appears. Having 
discovered, by reading attentively the chief works 
on Political Economy, that the science has been 
treated in a most insufficient and false manner, I 
directed my attention to the consideration of the 
real nature of the great subject, and the result of 
my reflection was, a conviction that, under the 
guidanceof the Christian law, it was possible for 
me to elucidate the science with complete accu- 
racy. 

Entertaining this conviction, I felt desirous of 
working the subject in conjunction with other per- 
sons, so that I might not only impart information 
to other minds, but also derive assistance and 
advantage from any comments or objections that 
might be raised against the gradual and numerous 
inductions which were necessary to be made upon 
a subject comprising a scries of extensive and 
complicated propositions. 

Under the impression just stated, I joined a 
public Association existing in London, and with 
a committee of eight persons commenced an in- 
vestigation of tlie state of the science, the result 
being, that, in the year 1838 I drew up a report, 
which received the sanction of the committee. — 
The object of this report was confined to show- 
ing the false state in which the science had been 
placed before the public mind, and was to have 
been followed by another work, the purport of 
which was to have been the elucidation of the 
true nature of the subject. 

Just as the first report was published, my at- 
tention was attracted to a Crown Commission 
Avhich had been formed for the purpose of investi- 
gating the causes of the distress of the great body 
of the people comprised by the Hand-Loom Wea- 
vers. It appeared to me that this Commission 
presented a very favorable opportunity of placing 
directly before the attention of Government, the 
new course of argument which it was m}' inten- 
tion to construct. With this view I held com- 
inunication with some of those persons who felt 
great interest in the successful working- of the 
Commission, and the principles which I intended 
to adduce were assented to ; and a pubhc meet- 
ing of the Operative Weavers of Spitalfields hav- 
ing been convened, I was authorized by tjiose 
who composed it, to construct a case for the 
Commissioners, and a committee, formed from 
the general body of Operative Weavers, was ap- 
pointed, with whom I might confer from time to 
time. 



Instead, therefore, of prosecuting my work in 
connexion with the Association first alluded to, I 
turned the matter already put together in my pub- 
Ushed report on the state of the science, into the 
first argument which this volume contains. The 
case was completed a year ago, and, after having 
been communicated to the committee and other 
members of the Operative Weavers, was deliv- 
ered to the Commissioners. 

Although I had thus prepared and submitted a 
case for judgement, yet I continued my reflec- 
tions and researches, and found matter that might 
be advantageously added. Part of this has re- 
ference to the practical management of tl^e sub- 
ject, showing the Parliamentary treatment of the 
great question of free trade, or general commer- 
cial policy, and is derived from the speeches of 
Mr. Huskisson. This, though now inserted, was 
not contained in the document delivered to the 
Commissioners ; the matter of this volume, there, 
fore, is much more extended in many parts than 
that of the original argument. 

With regard to the nature of the work which I 
profess to have accomplished, I know that the 
mcirs announcement of it will excite feelings of 
distrust, and even of dislike, in the breasts of 
many-persons. It has been my duty to establish 
a conclusion against the principle of free action, 
and this declaration alone is sufficient to call up 
hosts of enemies. Moreover, tlie beautiful mean- 
ing of the word " theory," has been so gen- 
erally iibuscd, abstract truth having Ijeen so 
often asserted to be, where falseness alone was 
existing, that many persons whose minds would 
be open to the reception of the truth propounded, 
may be induced to withhold assent under the im- 
pression that public injury in the place of benefit 
may accrue. It is in my power, however, to al- 
lay the fears of all sucii well-intentioned persons 
by declaring to them, at the outset, the nature of 
the remedy proposed, or the course of action 
which 1 have to uphold, as the only course that 
can be adopted witJiout increasing the evil of pov- 
erty and destitution. It is as follows : — 

Let it be assumed lhat the community assents 
to the argument, and agrees to adopt the course 
of action that is necessarily indicated by the 
facts therein stated and arranged. It will follow, 
that all persons will keep possession of the prop- 
erty they have at present. It is established, that 
a society cannot derive benefit from a retrogress- 
ive movement, or by members turning round 
ujKin and against each other, and encroaching 
upon the enjoyment of each other's property ; 



luthor^s Preface. 



and the proposition takes also a more extended 
range, for it shows, not only that benefit cannot 
be derived, but that a great destruction of value, 
property, or capital, must ensue from such a 
course, and thus injury will be the result, or more 
poverty and destitution be created. The reme- 
dy, therefore, is entirely of «7Jrc/Sj5fc<ii-e character. 
It enjoins that a more moderate and just course, 
both of desire and of action, be observed in fu- 
lure, than has hitherto been observed. It insists 
on greater regard being shown to the labor and 
property of persons in general, and this to be ef- 
fected by commercial laws being based in future 
upon the true principle estabhshed, in place of the 
false principle which is brought under examina- 
tion and condemned. 

On discoursing in the presence of many mem- 
bers of the distressed laboring class, upon the 
great and momentous subject of the natural and 
social rights of man, it has afforded me the high- 
est gratification lo remark the ready assent that 
has been given to a simple principle of truth or 
just action. I am bound to declare that this as- 
sent has been more readily granted in the instan- 
■;es just adduced, than in the instances of other 
persons who arc Jar more advanced in the pos- 
session of worldly advantages. I do not intend 
to infer hence, that such persons are superior in 
their natural dispositions, but 1 maintain that the 
fact arises from the greater simplicity of the cir- 
cumstances amidst which they have lived. When 
a proposal is made involving two matters, that of 
an improvement in art or science, on the one 
hand, and on the other, the good of a fellow- 
creature, those of a lower rank of life are, at 
once, wdling that the former shall be in subordi- 
nation to the latter. But when the same propo- 
.sal is submitted to those of more elevated rank, a 
pause is made before a decision is given, and 
ultimately the physical improvement is prefer- 
red, and the idea of injury or injustice is care- 
lessly dismissed, accompanied by the assertion 
that tlie fact comes witlun the great general law 
or not, and that each person must do as well as 
he can for himself. Individual exceptions there 
will be in both the cases adduced, but the argu- 
ment rests, as a mailer of course, upon the rule. 

It may, perhaps, appear to the reader that the 
fact whicli I have just staled may have arisen 
from the persons with whom I have held eommu- 
nicalion on the subject having readily acquiesced 
in tlie matter I liavc proposed lo them from an 
inability to argue, or from a disinclination to offer 
oppobitjon to my views. Such, however, has not 
been the fuel, lor my communications have eli- 
cited many original observations, and these were 
of such a cliaj-aclcr as to render it evident that 
the luattcf commented upon was well understood. 

What kind of reception tlie argument will meet 
with from those jicrsons whose duty it is to con- 
Kider of and to pass judgement on general rights, 
it is impossible to foresee. When I cull to mind the 
light, inconsiderate, and worldly spirit, with which 
public men in general enter upon a discussion of 
the momentous (juestions involved in the inquiry, 
it appears as though the present state of public 



feeling must be greatly unfavorable to the influ- 
ence of truth. If the reader will place the sub- 
ject before him in one and the following point of 
view, he will be convinced that the opinion I 
have just expressed is not dictated by a wish to 
detract. When he has perused the fii'st argument, 
he will have before him a simple though a most 
important fact, namely, that the subject both is 
and is admitted to be, undemonstrated ; and, 
moreover, in a state of the utmost uncertainty 
and confusion. This being the fact, let him then 
remember, that a law has been framed lately, de- 
structive of a principle which has been observed 
for ages, and by many held sacred. I allude to 
the infraction of the usury laws. I maintain that 
every feature of the state of our knowledge ren- 
dered it a most imperative duty that such a 
course as that of altering the usury laws should 
not have been taken, and yet the contrary has 
been adopted. Taking into consideration the evi- 
dence extant upon the subject, and the passing of 
the law alluded to, it would appear as though 
there was no necessary connexion between a 
knowledge of a subject and legislating upon it. 

Of whatever nature the general reception of 
the argument may be at the present period, I 
know that it will be received v«'ith favor, and be 
held as true, by those who devote their afiections 
to the great principle upon which it is asserted 
that the argument is founded. Difficulty will ex- 
ist in the cases of those who, trusting entirely to 
intellectual power and research, have arrived at 
opposite conclusions ; and also with tliose, form- 
ing a large class, who, exercising intellectual 
power and research in the lowest degree, are ne- 
vertheless inclined to adhere pertinaciously to 
their own views. It is probable that few of such 
persons will be induced, or will be able, so to ac- 
company the course of reasoning and to com- 
mand a correct view of it, as to get rid of long- 
cherished opinions. In the instances of younger, 
purer, and more vigorous minds, such obstruc- 
tions will not exist ; and hence it may be that the 
greater assistance to the cause of truth may 
spring up from a rising generation. 

-\lthough it is interesting, 3'ct it is imavailing 
to speculate, as to whether the more extended re- 
cognition and adoption of the true cause of the 
prosperity of nations arc likely to be brought about 
immediately or remotely. In the mean time 
events must be progressively evolved. Derange- 
ments arc occurring in the circumstances of all 
states, in a degree, perhaps unparalleled in the 
hi^;tory of nations, and I think I am justified in 
adding, that tlicy are more especially visible in 
the circumstances of our own country. These, 
as they increase and become more pressing, will 
naturally impel the minds of men upon a course 
of strenuous exertion and eager investigation. — 
To discern with accuracy the issues of such great 
events is not within the scope of human fore- 
sight, but the power to form and to direct them 
lias, ages ago, been given, though, unhappily, it 
has been neglected and cotilenmed. To evoke 
this power ii my object in the following work. 
Lotidon, May. ifi'ili 



O N T E N T S 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Subject stated generally— The fact of poverty and distress 
admitted — The inquiry therefore to be into causes and re- 
medies — Causes divided into ten distinct questions— The 
nature of the remedial inquiry stated — The questions de- 
clared to embrace the entire science of social or political 
economy — Hence the necessity of a full treatment of the 
subject — The plan ol the General argument explained — 
Its division into three distinct arguments — The first to be 
an examination into the state of the science which is un- 
dertaken to be proved to be false — The second to be of a 
constructive character or to establish the truth of the 
science — The third a remedial argument, and au issue of 
the second .21—22 



ARGUMENT FIRST. 
Part I. 
A great general question propounded, requiring it to be 
shown what would be the effect on the circumstances of a 
country of abandoning a home trade and adopting a for- 
eign in its place — Adam Smith's answer to this question — 
The answer of M. Say, the French economist, shown to 
be identical with that of Adam Smith, both agreeing in 
the conclusion that home trade is doubly advantageous over 
foreign — Mr. M'CuUoch's notice of it — In another work 
he enters upon the question, and treats it confusedly and 
falsely, and finally rests upon a proposition in the work 
of Ricardo — This proposition examined — Instead of de- 
stroying the proposition of Adam Smith and Say, it is 
shown to be itself entirely false.. . , 22 — 25 

The question of absentee expenditure brought forward — 
The writers on the side of free trade under the necessity 
of arguing that absentee expenditure enriches a country.. . 

25—26 

Mr. Poulet Scrope's work on Political Economy, intro- 
duced — The author commences the subject by stating the 
impossibility of treating it accurately — His attempt to 
bring the question of free trade to a single problem — The 
problem examined — It is shown to fail in establiching the 
point proposed .26—28 

Further reference to Mr. M'CuUoch's view of the conse- 
quences of giving up all protection to home trade — De- 
fective character of his argument — Reference made to evi- 
dence of a practical character — A speech of Dr. Bo wring 
in the House of Commons describing the results of the 
free trade policy on the cotton trade of India 23—30 

A more general examination of Adam Smith's work " The 
Wealth of Nations," entered upon — The author is shown 



to attempt to uphold contrary conclusions — A passage con- 
taining the first principle of free trade brought forward 
and commented on — Locke's view opposed to the free 
principle — Adam Smith's view of the policy of corpora- 
tions and apprenticeship — An argument of the same au- 
thor upon the general benefit resulting from the colonial 
policy of Great Britain — Mr. M'CuUoch's estimate of the 
Wealth of Nations referred to — He is shown to have de.- 
livered two opposite judgn^ents respecting it.. . .. .30 — 34 

Part II. 
The question of the comparative increase of population and 
capital — The work of Malthus on Political Economy re- 
ferred to — An admission by the author that almost every 
branch of the law of the formation of wealth is imperfectly 
investigated — The essay on the Principle of Population, 
by the same author, referred to — His population principle 
tried by means of a table worked by Mr. Hallam — It is 
shown to be false — The necessity of reversing Malthus's 
two rates of progression proved — The source of Malthus's 

error stated His various leading arguments upon the 

causes of distress and destitution collated — His great judg- 
ment, denying the right of the destitute to subsistence, 
shown to be wholly unsustained by his own general argu- 
ment — ^An examination of the writings of Malthns con- 
tinued and concluded.. , 35 — 44 

Part III. 
An investigation of the practical evidence extant upon the 
question of general commercial policy commenced, by a 
reference to the speeches of Mr. Huskisson — the method of 
arguing the free-trade principle in the House of Commons 
shown to have been wrong and unjust — The doubtful na- 
ture of Mr. Huskisson's views proved by his maintaining 
opposite courses of poficy — His renouncement of the free- 
trade principle in the case of the Irish Linen trade — His 
subsequent attempts to prevent the adoption of the free 
principle — His evidence asserted to be void 44 — 5& 

Fart IV. 
The moral nature of the question proposed to be considered — 
Paley's view of the subject — Malthus's comments on Pa- 
ley's view — Mr. M'CuUoch's argument on the moral na.' 
ture of the question — He is shown to have carried out the 
issues of the free principle correctly, and hence to have 
argued that selfishness or covetousness is a right or bene- 
ficial incentive.. 55 — 57 

Part V. 

General remarks on the principle of the inadmissibility of 

proof which has been adopted by most writers on Political 

Economy — its pernicious tendency asserted — A test, or air 

agreed point proposed to be established — The test to be 



I 



XX 



Contents. 



profit — the importance of observing this insisted on — The 
first argument concluded, a negative proposition being es- 
tablished by it 57—59 



ARGUMENT SECOND. 
Part I. 
Nature of llie constructive argument slated — Tl;e first piin- 
ciple of a system of social action laid down — Labor shown 
to be the means of acquiring all production — ^A first divi- 
sion of employment commenced — The cause of value 
shown to be in the law of demand — The law of propor- 
tion introduced — The all-important nature of this la-.v — 
The failure of writers on Political Economy to develop 
its agency — The principle of competition examined— It is 
shown to be the great destroying principle — The principle 
of a conjunction of national interests tested by a problem 
applicable to the two countries, France and England — Eng- 
land to change her Corn trade and France her trada in Cotton 
manufactures on account of cheapness — The result injuri- 
ous to the capital of both countries — The moral nature of 
this case — The character of all properly proved to be that 
of trust between mankind — The great principle of social 
advancement shown to be under the cruidance of themoral 
law of justice — Expansion of the system — The physical 
good of mankind proved to arise out of co-operation, or a 
conjunction of interests — Evidence in corroboration of the 
law of Precedence and of Proportion adduced — application 
of the argument to absentee expenditure 59 — 70 



Part II. 
Q,uestion of the origin of distress or destitution solved — 
cash payments— Currency — Taxation— Increase of popula- 
tion — Destituliin shown to arise from mismanagement Of 
capital — Labor or wages — Moral causes and stale — Social 
action elucidated — The matter of tha constructive argu- 
ment shown to be put together entirely under the guidance 
of the Cluistian law of Government 71—74 



AP.GL'MENT THIRD. 
Part I. 
Nature of the remedial argument slated — It is based upon the 
premises of the preceding argument — The necessity of 
preserving all existing relations of trade — The impossi- 
bility of deriving benefit from the abolition of taxes — The 
right mode of getting rid of a tax — The facts tried by the 
great moral law — True character of the doctrine of cheap- 
ness — Matter in corroboration addticed — The prospect of 
rilief afforded by ths argument 74 — 78 

Part II. 

Remarkabli: analogy between the. principle of the entire ar- 
gument and a principle advanced by Shakspeare — The edu- 
cation question argued — The necessity of prefixing the 
Christian principle — The nature of the spiritual principle 
as distinct from the material, considered — The conclu- 
sion 79—83 



POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



To the Commissioners appointed hy Her Majesty 
for Inquiring into the state of the Hancl.loom 
Weavers : 

Gentlemen, 

A public meeting of the Hand-loom Weavers 
of Spitalfields having been held on the 26th of 
July last, a Resolution was passed, whereby I 
was requested and authorized to attend your 
Board, and to act on their behalf. 

In order to become acquainted with the entire 
nature of the important trust thus reposed in me, 
I have read attentively the Book of Instructions 
which you have issued to your Assistant Com- 
missioners, and which I find to contaiir a clear 
and full exposition of the several matters or 
branches of inquiry which are to form the business 
of your Commission. 

These are classed under three divisions : — 

Firstly, — The actual state of the Hand-loom 
Weavers. 

Secondly, — The causes of this state. 

Thirdly, — The means whereby the state may 
be remedied or ameliorated. 

Now, with regard to the first, I submit to you 
that I have no need to treat of it at all, as I know 
by personal observation, and beheve it to be suffi- 
ciently notorious, and shall, therefore, take it as 
granted to me by you that their state is a very 
distressed one, and calls upon us to make the 
strictest and most patient investigation, first into 
its causes, and then into remedies. It mil be my 
duty, consequentij, to direct my attention, and to 
confine the matter of my argument to these two 
branches of the subject. 

Upon referring to your Book of Instructions, I 
find that at page 19, you commence setting out 
or suggesting certain causes as fitting to be in- 
quired into, and from amongst these I desire to 
cite the followdng as leading ones. 

SUGGESTED CAUSES OF THE EVIL. 

" 1st. Whether from the diminution of the de- 
' mand for their labor, arising from a diminished 
' demand for the articles on wliich it is employed, 
' as in the case of the substitution of woolens for 
« silks ? 

" 2nd. Whether from a different mode of man- 
' ufacturing the same articles, as in tlie case of 
' the substitution of the power-loom for the liand- 
' loom ? 

' 3rd. Whether from the substitution of foreign 
' for British weavers, occasioned either by the 
'importation of foreign goods, or by the promotion 
' of foreign manufactures by the export of yam ? 

" 4th. Whether by restrictions imposed by for. 
' eign States on the import of British manufac- 
' tures ? 

" 5th. Whether by the laws affecting the impor- 
' tation of com ? 

" 6th. Whether by the resumption of cash pay- 
' ments ? • 



" 7th. Whether by the general pressure of tax 
' ation ? 

" 8 til. Whether by the increase of thek num. 
' hers without a proportional increase in the de. 
' mand for their labor ? 

" 9th. The state of things which affect the rate 
' of wages. 

" 10th. Moral causes and state." 
And when treating of the great question of re- 
medies, you express, at page 2;>, that they who 
propose such, must be required ' to explain in de- 
' tail both tlie object to be effected, the means to 
' be used, and the process by which the proposed 
' mecuis are to produce the contemplated effect." 
And again at page 30, " To inquire into the prob- 
' able effect of any proposed remedy, not only on 
' the branch of trade for whose relief it may be 
' proposed, but also on the community in gene- 
' ral — and where the proposed measure, if adopt. 
' ed, woidd extensively affect the -whole commit- 
' 7iity ; in the cases, for instance, of a repeal or 
' alteration of the corn-laws, or a debasement of 
' the currency." 

Upon surveying attentively the catalogue of 
important matter thus propounded for considera- 
tion and solution, it will be evident that the suc- 
cessful issue of the investigation proposed, would 
resolve itself into a perfect delineation of the 
science of social or political economy. 

Such bemg the fact, it will be my duty to treat 
at considerable length — firstly, of the existing 
state, and secondly, of the natui'e itself of the 
science. For if we should be induced to content 
ourselves with a partial, that is, an insufficient 
examination of the great questions advanced, the 
object for which the Commission has been form- 
ed must inevitably be frustrated, and while in 
that case the community would be left in igno- 
rance, not of causes alone, but also of remedies, 
the suffering parties would be consigned to a state 
of protracted and aggravated distress. Much, 
therefore, as I could wish to abbreviate the mat- 
ter of my communication, yet I am convinced 
that it cannot be done, and at the same time jus- 
tice be rendered to the great and important sub- 
jects which }rou have so fully set forth for eluci- 
dation. I have indeed now before me a precC:i 
dent of fadure on this point. It is that of a 
Government Commission,* issued lately for a pur- 
pose somewhat similar. The questions propound, 
ed were those in pohtical economy, and had re- 
ference to the advantages Ukely to accrue to the 
community from a certain contemplated course 
of commercial policy. The Commissioner to 
whom the inquuy was intrusted, framed his ques- 
tions and referred them for answer to many of the 
most competent persons in the coimtry. All 
these persons gave in their answers shortly, and 
merely as matter of opinion, no strict line of ar- 

* Mr. Bellenden Ker's Report on the Law of Limited Li- 
ability. 



22 



Political Economy. 



gumeiit being attempted. On receiving the va- 
rious opinions, tlie Commissioner perused them 
and weiglied tiicni in his mind, hut they were all 
so insufficient and contradictory that he could 
an-ive at no satisfactory conclusion ; consequent- 
ly, the result of the investigation or tiie Report, 
proved a failure, and was so returned by the Com- 
missioner himself, and thus the whole labor of 
the inquiiy was lost to the countrj-, tlic subject 
remaining in the same state of darkness as it 
was before the commission was issued. 

The necessity, therefore, for a full and unre- 
.strictcd inquiry being apparent, I beg to assure 
you that I will spare no labor that may appear to 
me requisite for rendering the investigation, com- 
plete ; and I trust that you will bestow upon my 
work a calm and stcad}'^ examination, notwith- 
standing the unpcrfection either of matter or of 
maimer wliich it may contain. 

Having prefaced tiius much, I will, in tlic next 
place, and before I enter upon the main argu- 
ment itself, call your attention to the method 
whicJi it appears to me necessary to adopt for the 
management of the important case which I shall 
have to submit for your judgement. With re- 
gard then to the arrangement of my argument, I 
beg to inform you that I thiidt it necessary to 
form it into three distinct divisions. The first 
division will be an examination of the argument- 
ative matter, by means of which the most ap- 
proved writers on political economy have attempt- 
ed to establish the princi])les and to unfold the 
truth of that science. If the result of my course 
of pi'occdure in this quarter, that is, my investi- 
gation of the STATE of the science, liad enabled 
me to determine that the theory of the formation 
of wealtli, as it has been propounded to the world 
by tliese writers, has been fully and perfectly slI- 
gued ; that the conclusions which its authors 
have arrived at, arc such strict issues from cor- 
rect premises as would warrant a legislative as- 
sembly in adopting I hem as the foundation of a 
system of commercial action ; my labor would 
have terminated here, and I sliould merely have 
to lay before you, in a maimer as clear and suc- 
cinct as i)ossible, the train of argument by means 
of whicli such theory had been established, and 
then to urge for adoption a course of action in 
conformity with this theory, as being the only 
method of relief applicable to the great and 
pressing emergency, wliich the case before us 
presents. 

As, however, this is not the fact, but, on the 
contrary, as I shall liave to sliow you tiie dlscrep. 
aney of opinion, the contrariety of argument, 
and the manifest errors of writers whose works 1 
have carefully examined, consecjuentiy, the scope 
of my first argument will he that of establishing, 
by means of these errors, a negative |)roi)osition 
against the theory of comnuTcial economy which 
has been propounded and upheld by lliem, and 
which, in a groat degree, has guided the legisla- 
ture in framing or abrogating our commercial 
laws. Having adduced this evidence of a seien- 
tific character, I shall then enter upon an exam- 
ination of tiic argumentative matter that has been 
directly subinitfed to the judgement, and has in- 
fluenced the decisions of Parliament, and whidi 
was put forth by a statesman whoso authority 
upon the subject of commercial jiohcy is gene- 



rail}' held as the highest extant. This I shall 
show is of a character similarly deficient and er- 
roneous. 

In order to effect the object thus stated, it will 
be necessary that I should adhere strictly, in this 
my first argument, to the method of reasoning by 
anal^'sis. 

As the matter of my first argument will be 
confined to the demonstrating a ncgalivc propo- 
sition, or showing what is not the trutli ; in that 
of ni}' second, I shall direct my labor to the con- 
structing an affirmative proposition, or the de- 
monstration of what is the truth. In order to 
effect this object, it will be necessary for me to 
adopt the process of reasoning the opposite of that 
made use of in the first instance, namely tliat 
of S3'nthesis instead of analysis, of construction 
in tlie place of decomposition; comiiicnciiig at 
simple premises, and advancing by means of their 
various inductions until I am able to arrive at the 
required conclusions. 

The third division of iny argument will be that 
of showing the method of adapting a true princi- 
ple to a system moving chiefly under a false one. 
This, therefore, will be rcmeffial. The method 
of reasoning to be observed in this will be eorol 
larativc or issual, depending for its truth, as a 
matter of necessity, upon the correct construction 
of the preceding or affirmative proposition. 

To state the arguments shortly, they will then 
stand thus : — 

1st. The proposition to be established — nega- 
tive : the method of reasoning — analytical. 

2nd. The proposition to be established — afllrin- 
ativc : the method of reasoning — synthetical. 

3rd. Tlie proposition to be established — adajit- 
atlve or remedial : the method of reasonuig co- 
rollarative or Issual. 



ARGUMENT FIR.ST. 

Method — Analytical. Proposition — Negative. 
Part I. 

With reference to the great body of important 
matter included in the questions of your Book of 
Instructions, and, I may add, with reference also 
to the entire science of pohtical economy, there 
can arise no greater or more interesting proposi- 
tion to be solved than this, namely, whether home 
or foreign trade be most advantageous to a coun- 
try ? i propose, therefore, commencing my ar- 
gument, by making this question a test ; and the 
matter which I must necessarily extract and ex- 
amine, for the j)urpose of showing in what man- 
ner this great question has hitherto been treated, 
will 0])en to view the state of information in 
which the public mind is, with regard to many of 
the iinjOTrtant subjects wliich it is the object of 
your commission to have inquired into, consider- 
ed, and proved. 

I will now restate the question ])roi)ounded. — 
It is this : — 

What would betheVffeel, on the circumstances 
or capital of a country, of abandoning any given 
hmne trade, and ado|)ling a foreign in its place ? 

I MOW j)roce(Hl to ])rovi' how feebly, iiiefliciently, 
and falsely, this great proposition has been treated 
by those writers who arc considered to be the 
ciiicf authorities. 



Home and Foreign Trade. 



23 



In the second book, and the fifth cliapter of the 
great work of Adam Smith, the " Wealth of Na- 
tions," the author treats of the different employ- 
ment of capital. After adverting to the various 
Idnds of productive industry, he necessarily comes 
to the question of the comparative advantageous- 
ness of home and foreign trade, and gives his de- 
cision in favor of the former, and, in order to 
PROVE its correctness, frames the following propo- 
sition : 

" The capital which is employed in purchasing 
' in one part of the country, in order to sell in an- 
' other the produce of the industry of that coun- 
' try, generally replaces, by every such operation, 
' TWO distinct capitals, that had both been em- 
' ployed in the agriculture or manufactures of 
' that country, and thereby enables them to con- 
' tinue that employment. When it sends out 
' from the residence of the merchant a certain 
' value of commodities, it generally brings back, 
' in return, at least an equal value of other com- 
' modities. When both are the produce of do- 
' mestic industry, it necessarily replaces, by every 
' such operation, two distinct capitals, which had 
' both been employed in supporting productive 
' labor, and thereby enables them to continue 
' that support. The capital which sends Scotch 
' manufactures to London, and brings back Eng- 
' lish com and manufactures to Edinbiu'gh, nc- 
' cessarily replaces, by every such operation, two 
' British capitals which had both been employed 
' in the agriculture or manufactures of Great 
' Britain. 

" The capital employed in purchasing foreign 
' goods for home consumption, when this pur- 
' chase is made with the produce of domestic in- 
' dustry, replaces too, by every such operation, 
' TWO distinct capitals ; but one of them only is 
' employed in supporting domestic industry. The 
' capital which sends British goods to Portugal, 
' and brings back Portuguese goods to Great Brit- 
' ain. replaces, by every such operation, only one 
' British capital : the other is a Portuguese one. 
' Though the returns, therefore, of the foreign 
' trade of consumption should be as quick as those 
' of the home trade, the capital employed in it 
' will give but one-half the encouragement to 
'the industry or productive labor of the country." 

Now, in the passage just cited, its author has 
arrived at the conclusion that foreign, as com- 
pared with home trade, gives but one-half the 
encouragement to the productive labor of a coun- 
try, or, in other words that home trade is doubly 
productive over foreign, on account of its keep- 
ing in operation two distinct sources of produc- 
tion. I will, in the next place, invite your atten- 
tion to a similar decision, laid down by the French 
economist. Monsieur Sa}'. In the 1st volume, 
an-d the 248th page of the works of this author, 
as translated by Princep, there is the following 
passage : 

" The British government seems not to have 
' perceived that the most profitable sales to a na- 
' tion are those made by one individual to an- 
' other within the nation ; for these latter imply 
' a national production of two values — the value 
' sold, and that given in exchange." 

Now, this proposition of Say's is identical with 
that laid down by Adam Smith, and it is also 
more clearly and concisely expressed. Thus two 



of the most eminent writers on the science of 
political economy answer the question now pro- 
pounded in a similar way, beiirg compelled, by the 
facts of the case, to agree in their conclusion, that 
home trade is doubly advantageous over foreign. 

I now desire to call your attention to the man- 
ner in wliich the propositions here laid down by 
Adam Smith and Say have been met by authors 
who liave more recently directed their labors to 
an investigation of the science. In the work of 
Mr. M'CuUoch. entitled, " Principles of Pohtical 
Economy," in the 5th chapter the author is 
writing under the head of " Commerce," and 
herein he necessai'ily arrives at the question as to 
the diftercnt nature of home and foreign trade ; 
and, at page 147 of this chapter, the following 
passage occurs : 

" I shall not imitate the example of most wri- 
' ters on commerce, by entermg into a lengthened 
' examination of the question whether tlie home 
' or foreign trade be most advantageous. It is, 
' indeed, quite obvious that it admits of no satis. 
^ factory solution." 

By this passage, you will perceive that its au- 
thor evades an examination oi the propositions of 
Adam Smith and Say ; and endeavors to get rid 
of the task of proving, by advancing the weak, 
the unphilosophical, and, therefore, the unwar- 
rantable assertion, that the subject does not ad- 
mit of solution. He then continues his remarks, 
but as these are consequent on the above admis- 
sion of weakness, it was not to be expected that 
they would be of a character other than vague 
and erroneous. It does not appear to me essential 
to quote them here at length, though on a subse- 
quent occasion, I shall have to enter upon a 
minute examination of the most particular por- 
tion of them. As merely referring to them at 
present, I beg to remark, that the author having 
no command of a true hypothesis, and dechning 
the task of finding one, advances in Ms argument 
by means of taking a false one as granted him, 
which being done, his deductions, as a matter of 
course, are then easily worked out. Although I 
do not bring the whole of these passages forward to 
form a part of my case, nevertheless I desire to 
draw attention to them, because they furnish a 
good illustration of how little care, and how little 
of accurate reasoning, have been employed in 
constructing arguments on the important subject 
to which they relate.' The matter alluded to is 
contained in pages 147 to 159 inclusive. 

Leaving this part of the work, therefore, for 
more ample examination on a future occasion, it 
is necessary for me to have recourse now to an- 
other by the same author, and which has been 
more recently presented to the public. The title 
of this work is " Commerce," and it was pub- 
lished under the auspices of the Society for the 
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In the second 
chapter of this work the author, when dilating on 
the various kinds of trade, necessarily arrives a 
second time at the same great question, namely, 
the comparative advantagcousness to a country 
of home or foreign trade, and herein he does not 
evade the question in the same manner as he did 
in his first treatise, but ventures somewhat further 
into the arena of discussion. His commencement, 
however, is of a similar character. At page 13 
of this work there is the following passage : 



24 



Pfilitical Economy. 



' It is clear, therefore, that in estimating the 
« comparative advantageousness of the home and 
' foreign trades, it vnll not do to look merely at 
• the number of transactions in each. The real 
' question is, which occasions the greatest subdi- 
« vision of employments, and gives the most power. 
' ful spur to industry ? This, however, is a ques- 
' tion that does not, perhaps, admit of any very 
' satisfactory solution." 

Following almost immediately upon tliis reiter- 
ation of tlie above remarkable assumption, the au- 
thor for the fifst time makes direct allusion to the 
j)roposition of Adam Smith, wliich he quotes, and 
then attempts its refutation by means of the fol- 
lowing series of assertions : 

" Now it will be observed, that Dr. Smith does 
« not say that the importation of foreign com- 

• modities has any tendency to force capital 
' abroad ; and unless it do this, it is plain that the 
« statement in the above paragraph is quite incon- 
' sistent with the fundamental principle he has 
' elsewhere established, that the productive indus- 
« try of every country must always be proportion- 

• cd to the amount of its capital. Suppose, for 
' the sake of illustration, that the case put by Dr. 

• Smith actually occurs that the Scotch manufac- 

• tures are sent to Portugal, it is obvious that if 
' the same demand cont'uiue in London for Scotch 
' manufactures as before they began to be sent 
« abroad, an additional capital, and an additional 

• number of laborers will be required to furnish 
' supplies for both the London and Portuguese 

• markets. In this case, therefore, instead of the 
' industry of the country sustaining any dirninu- 
' tion from the export of the Scotch manufactures 
' to a foreign country, it would evidently be aug- 
' mented, and a new field would be opened for the 
' profitable employment of stock. But if at the 
' same time that the Scotch began to export man- 
' ufactured goods to Portugal, the Londoners also 
' found out a foreign market, where they could be 
' supplied at a cheaper rate with the goods they 
' had previously imported from Scotland, all In- 

• tercoursc between Scotland and London would 
» immediately cease, and the home trade would be 

• changed for a foreign trade. It is obvious, how- 

• ever, that this change could riot occasion any 
' embarrassment, and that it would not throw a 
' single individual out of einployMient. On the 
' contrary, a fresli stimulus would be given to the 
' manufactures both of Scotland and the Mc- 
' tropolis, inasmuch as nothing but their being 
' able to dispose of their produce to greater ad- 
' vantatrc could have uiduced the mercliants to 
' change the iiomc for a foreign market. The 
' fact is, that when a home trade is changed for a 
' foreign trade, an additional cai)ilul bi'longing to 
' the nation with wlileli it is carried on, enters 
' into it ; but there is no diminution wiiatcver 
' cither of tiic capital or uidustry of tlie nation 
' which has made tlie change. So far from tliis, 
' lii(.'y arc plainly diverted into niore productive 
' channels, and arc employed with greater advan- 
• tagc. — (For some further remarks on this sub- 
' ject, see Rlcardo'a ' Principles of Political 
' Economy.')" 

The passage just quoted is the only matter 
which tiiis author has put togctiier for the pur- 
pose of meeting the all-imiwrtant proposition 
which iii now under examination. It cannot fail 



to be remarked, on a superficial consideration of 
it, that its meaning is obscure, and ahnost unin- 
telligible ; a continued scrutiny enables us to per- 
ceive that it is not sense. It is obvious that, 
when the author of it ' arrived at this part of the 
extensive and important subject on which his 
mind was occupied, and found a proposition laid 
down by two of the leading authorities, diftering 
so widely from that which he expected to find, and 
differing also from that which would be necessary 
to enable liim to carry onward his own arguments 
on the subject, he felt convinced the impedunent 
to his progress would be insurmountable, if the 
truth of this proposition should be conceded. He 
therefore approached it distrustfully, and, before 
mooting an adverse argument, declares tliat such 
a proposition does not admit of solution ; and, 
such a declaration being made, it will not create 
surprise that the passage quoted above does not 
solve it. I should dwell much longer on this pas- 
sage, and should deem it my duty not to quit it 
until I had unraveled all its intricacies, and shown 
clearly how incapable of reconciliation, and of 
being formed mto unity of argument, all the mat- 
ter is which has been forced into it, only, as you 
will observe, at its conclusion, the author refers 
to the work of Mr. Ricardo for a further elucida- 
tion of Ills own views of the subject. A ^com- 
plete analysis of Mr. Ricardo's proposition will, 
in fact, comprehend the whole matter of argu- 
ment contained in Loth. 

I shall, in the next place, then, invite your at- 
tentlon to the argument made use of by Mr. 
Ricardo, in order to meet and to overthrow the 
proposition under consideration. On approaching 
this argument, I cannot omit to lay most particu- 
lar stress on its peculiarly interesting nature. — 
In my opinion, it forms the most important prob- 
lem which is to be found among all that has been 
written upon the science of political economy. 
Its author has openly and boldly ventured out 
from beneath the obscuring power of language, 
and, relinquishing its imperfect instrumentality, 
has connnlttcd his arguments to the solid form of 
fact, worked by figure, from which, you will be 
aware, there are no means of escape. By such 
a method, the right or the wrong must be estab- 
lished intlisputably ; and I beg leave to remark, 
in passing, that no writer on the subject we are 
now treating of, should be allowed to claim for 
his conclusions the character of truth, who can- 
not submit them to be tried by this test. I now 
beg your most particular attention to this prob- 
lem. 

On referring to the writings of Mr. Ricardo, I 
find, in the 2^nd chapter of his work, entitled 
'' Principles of Pohtica! Fconomy,'' that he is 
writing under the head of " Bounties and Prolii- 
bitions," and at J)age 401 he notices and quotes 
the proposition of Say, and declares that he will 
examine the soundness of the ojiinion in another 
chapter. Subse(|uently, thereiore, in the 2lJth 
chapter, and page 444, the author ipiotes at full 
the i)roposition of Adam Smith, which, as I have 
before remarked, is identical with that of Say. — 
lie (lien proceeds in his attempt to exhibit its fal- 
lacy by means of the lollowing jjroposition : — 

" This argument appears to me to be lallaeious; 
' for though two capitals, one Portuguese, and one 
' English, be employed, us Dr. Smith supposes, 



Home and Foreign Trade — Absenteeism. 



gi 



' still a capital will be employed in the foreign 
' trade double of what would be employed 
' in the home trade. Suppose that Scotland 
' employs a capital of a thousand pounds in mak- 
' ing linen, which linen she exchanges for the 
' produce of a similar capital employed in mak- 
' ing silks in England. Two thousand pounds, 
' and a proportional quantity of labor, will be 
' employed in the two countries. Suppose now 
' that England discovers that she can import 
' more linen from Germany for the silks which 
' she before exported to Scotland, and that Scot- 
' land discovers that she can obtain more silks 
' from France in return for her linen, than she be- 
' fore obtained from England — will not England 
' and Scotland immediately cease trading with 
' each other, and will not the home trade of con- 
' sumption he changed for a foreign trade of con- 
' sumption ? But, although two additional capi- 
' tals will enter into this trade — the capital of 
'Germany and that of France — will not the 
' same amount of Scotch and English capital 
' continue to be employed, and will it not give 
' motion to the same quantity of industry as 
' when it was engaged in the home trade ?" 

Now the foregoing argument contains two dis- 
tinct propositions. The lirst is this : — 
Scotland England 

Linen Silks 

£1000 £1000 

These, exchanged for each other, make a capital 
of 2000Z. value, and employ, as the author states, 
a proportional quantity of labor. Now the ques- 
tion to be tried is, what will be the effect of leaving 
off the exchanging or consuming these home 
productions, and convcrtmg the trade from a 
home into a foreign ? This tire author proposes 
to show will be followed by no ill effect, and, in 
order to prove his assertion, he changes the facts 
of his proposition thus : — 

Germanij France 

Linen \ /' Silks 
Scotland ^^ England 
Linen / \^ Silks 
Now in the factitious case which the author 
has here constructed, he has set out by declaring 
Scotland to be a bad market for linen, and Eng- 
land a bad one for silks, on which account they 
cease to trade with each other. Having thus, in 
his first proposition, made England reject the 
production of Scotland, and Scotland reject the 
production of England, he has then, in his se- 
cond proposition, preserved both these rejected 
commodities, and made -the Germans purchase 
the one, and the French the other : and by such 
an argument has attempted to show that neither 
the capital of England nor that of Scotland will 
sustain injury. But it is self-evident that the 
same reason which induced the people of Scot- 
land to cease buying the silks of England will 
also prevent the people of Germany from resort- 
ing to her market ; and the same reason which 
induced tlie people of England to cease buying 
the linens of Scotland will likewise operate in 
preventing the people of France from doing so. 
In the natural coiu'se of things, France and Ger- 
many will trade with each other for the two com- 
modities adduced, and England and Scotland 
must cease to manufacture them, whereby these 
two sources of exchangeable production must be, 



in the first instance, injured, and, in the next, 
lost. Thus it is evident, that the second or alter- 
ed proposition is an error, and that its author has 
endeavored to sustain liis argument by supposing 
an impossible example. The problem, therefore, 
framed by Mr. Ricardo, and relied on by Mr. 
M'CuUoch, instead of overthrowing the proposi- 
tion of J. B. Say and Adam Smith, presents no- 
thing better than a confused mass of jarring and 
conflicting matter which annihilates its own ex- 
istence. 

Having thus brought under your notice the en- 
tire matter of argument which has been con- 
structed for the purpose of meeting and getting 
rid of the viain question of the science of Politi- 
cal Economy, I think it right, in order that the 
means of distinguishing truth and falsehood on 
this important subject may be increased as much 
as possible, to have recourse to another issue, 
which has a direct bearing upon the question un- 
der discussion. The issue to which I now beg 
to invite your attention is the effect produced on 
the capital of a country by absentee expenditure. 
With regard to this much disputed point, I find 
in Mr. M'Culloch's work, " Principles of Political 
Economy," at page 157, the following passage : — 

" What has now been stated goes far to settle 
' the disputed question as to the influence of ab- 
' sentee expenditure. If an English geritleman, 
' living at home, and using none but foreign arti- 
' cles in his establishment, gives the same en- 
' couragement to industry that he would do were 
' he to use none but British articles, he must, it is 
' obvious, do the same thing, should he go abroad. 
' Whatever he may get from the foreigner, when 
' at Paris or Brussels, must be paid for, directly 
' or indirectly, in British articles, quite in the 
' same way as when he resided in London. Nor 
' is it easy to imagine any grounds for supposing 
' his expenditure in the latter more beneficial to 
' this country than in the former." 

In a note, at the bottom of the same page, there 
is also the following sentence : — 

" The question really at issue refers merely to 
' the spending of revenue, and has nothing to do 
' with the improvement of estates ; and, notwith- 
' standing all that has been said to the contrary, 
' / a)n not yet cominced that absenteeism is, in 
' this respect, at all injurious." 

These are the passages which bear upon this 
point, and I beg to express an opinion that, if the 
conclusion here arrived at were taken by itself, 
and made the basis on which to construct an ar- 
gument, sufficient evidence would arise directly 
out of it to show clearly that some great error 
had been admitted into the train of deduction 
from which it emanated. You will not fail to 
remark on the doubtful expressions here made 
use of. The evidence of fact which he adduces, 
the writer says ' goes far to settle.'' Now, in a 
train oi perfect reasoning, there can be no degree 
or limitation of power admitted. It either does 
or docs not prove. Again, he says " IF an En^- 
lisli gentleman, living at home," &c. Now, in 
this passage, you will observe the importance of 
the word if. The previous proposition granted, 
THEN the corollary follows as a correct deduction, 
and cannot be disallowed. If we grant a false 
hypothesis, we must also grant a false deduction, 
and likewise a false conclusion. Such a course 



26 



Political Economy. 



I admit to be logically correct. But then I deny 
the validity of the previous proposition, or the hy- 
pothesis out of which the deduction issues, and, 
my objection substantiated, it follows as a neces- 
sary consequence that from this point the entire 
nimiber of issues are erroneous. I contend that 
it is the duty of those who, in the pursuit of truth, 
arrive at conclusions which stagger their judge- 
ments, not to content themselves by pleading the 
con-ect issue out of a previous proposition, but to 
try the argument back, until tliey have examined 
every part, from the extremcst conclusion back- 
ward to the minute principle from whicli their 
first deduction issued ; for by such a course they 
could not fail to find the exact point where error 
entered. You will remark also, in the last pas- 
sage quoted, that the author seems inclined to ad- 
mit that the evidence which has been adduced, 
by viewing the subject through the medium of 
the question now under consideration, afFords a 
preponderance against his own conclusion ; for, 
in the place of expressing a reliance on his own 
view, his words are, ' I am not yet convinced that 
absenteeism is at all injurious.' 

In order to show clearly tlie unsubstantial and 
false nature of the argument thus set forth, I 
will invite your attention superficially to the 
working out of facts in conformity to the reason- 
mg here attempted to be upheld. In accordance 
with the admitted hypothesis, its supporters are 
under the necessity of arguing that absentee ex- 
penditure, or, in other words, the free principle of 
commerce, brings about the best or most prosper- 
ous state of things for all countries concerned in 
such exchanges or commerce. Now, as an ex- 
ample, I will suppose the case of a wealthy per- 
son residing in Ireland, who, in exchange for his 
own various productions, is in the habit of de- 
manding the productions of others for the con- 
sumption of himself and family, that is, he ex- 
pends in that country his income of 10,000/. per 
annum. Such a person resolves to quit Ireland, 
and to reside in London. Now, according to the 
free doctrine, this is to become a more ad- 
vantageous arrangement of circumstances, both 
for the people of Ireland and England. After a 
considerable lapse of time, the same person re- 
solves upon quitting London and going to Paris. 
Tlien again, this is to become the more advan- 
tageous arrangement for Ireland, England, and 
France. Again, he quits Paris for Rome, then 
tliis becomes a still better state of things. Again, 
he quits Rome for Naples, so at last this becomes 
the best. But I will now draw into instance an- 
other state of things, and that, too, wliich fre- 
quently occurs. The same person resolves upon 
turning round. He (piits Naples, and retraces 
his course first to Rojnc, then to Paris, then to 
liondon, and lastly, settles down again in his 
own country, Ireland. Now, according to the 
fn^; doctrini', the princijjlc is to reverse its opera- 
tion, and the residence or the demand for connuodi- 
ties at Naj)les, which was so lately at the extrem- 
ity of the good scale, is suddenly to become at 
thi; extremity of the bad scale ; and (he resi- 
dence in Ireland, wjiich was l>cforc set down at 
the extremity of the bad, is to b(;eome now at the 
extremity of the good, and all Ibis is to take 
place merely by the volition of per.sons who have 
thus moved. However absurd such a course of 



reasoning may appear, and in fact is, neverthe- 
less, an arguer on the side of the free principle is 
under the necessity of upholding it, for by it de- 
ductions arc correctly worked out from received 
premises. It shows, however, how totally de- 
void the system is of any sound or guiding prin- 
ciple. 

Moreover, with regard to testing the theory of 
commerce by the question now imder considera- 
tion, that is, absentee expenditure, we may re- 
marjv upon the discord which the question makes 
among the advocates themselves of the free prin- 
ciple. We are often called upon to notice the 
incongruous example of statesmen upholding the 
doctrine of free trade in one argument, and then, 
upon being constrained to advance \\4th it, and 
to be bound by its legitimate conclusions (among 
which is the beneficial effect of absentee expen- 
diture on a country), they turn ^id argue in op- 
position to it. I have now beiore me a speech 
made by a conspicuous practical statesman of the 
present era, who, it may be presumed, is as cog- 
nizant of the effects of absentee expenditure, be 
they what they may, as any person can be. I allude 
to Mr. O'Connell. In this speech he argues most 
detenninedly and most emphatically against the 
doctrine, whereby it is asserted that absentee ex- 
penditure is productive of no mischief to his own 
country, Ireland ; while, upon another occasion, 
the same statesman will be found to contend in 
his place, in the House of Conunons, on the side 
of the free principle of commerce. 

Having thus collected together and exhibited 
the aggregate results of the arguments in chief 
which have been written for the purpose of illus. 
trating the important question propounded at the 
commennement of my argument, I tliink it nr 
cessary to examine, as affording direct evidence 
on this branch of the subject, the work of one 
other author, which is that of Mr. Poulet Scrope. 
I am induced to make reference to this work, be- 
cause it has been more recently presented to the 
public, and therefore, if any additional matter of 
value, as elucidating the laws of the science gen- 
erally, had been educed either by himself or oth- 
ers, Ave miglit expect to find it in this work. I 
have, liowcvcr, to invite attention to a remarka- 
ble identity of argument with that which I have 
already submitted for consideration, namely, con- 
fessed inability in the first instance, and palpable 
error in the last ; — premises admitted to be doubt- 
ful ; — and the inevitable sequence ; — conclusions 
manifestly wrong. 

In the work of this author, entitled, '' Princi- 
ples of Political Economy," in the first chapter, 
page 41, there is an attem])t to delineate general 
l)rinci])les as arising out of the nature of the sci- 
ence ; and herein it is begged to be received as 
an axiom, that the matter which the mind meets 
with, when oceupic^d uj)f)n the investigation of its 
laws, does not admit of the attaiinnent of aceu- 
rale results; and in order to have this lic(?nse for 
incorrect reasoning granted him, the writer con- 
strnels the following pa.'isage : — 

'' The principles of Political Economy must 
' obviously be deduced from axioms relative to 
' the conduct and feelings of mankind under par- 
' lienlar circumstances, framed upon general and 
' extensive ob.«<-rval ion. Hut neither the feelings 
• nor the conduct of a being like niun^ endowed 



Poulet Scrope on Theory and Practice. 



27 



' with mental volition, and infinitely varying de- 
' grees of sensibility can, with any thing like 
' truth, be assumed as uniform and constant un- 
' der the same circumstance. Hence the highest 
' degree of certainty which can belong to the 
' principles of Political Economy will amount 
' only to moral probability, and must fall far 
• short of the accuracy that characterizes the 
' laws of the physical sciences. This considera- 
' tion should have prevented the attempts which 
' have been made by many writers on Political 
' Economy to attribute the force of mathematical 
' demonstration to its conclusions. The fashion 
' just now among this class of inquirers is to de- 
' signate their favorite study as ' Political Mathe- 
' matics,' but it would obviously be just as rea- 
' sonable to give the name of ' Ethical Mathe- 
' matics,' to the sister-science of morals. The 
' rules of economical policy are to be ascertained 
' only by studying the same variable course of 
' human action, and with a reference to the same 
' indefinite end — the happiness of the species — 
' as the rules of morality. Far from partaking of 
' the character of an exact science, like the math- 
' ematics, which deals in the qualities of abstract 
' and imaginary entities, it has not even the fix- 
' ity of any of the natural sciences to whose 
' study the mathematics are usually applied ; the 
' facts of which it takes cognizance consisting 
' only of such variable, vague and uncertain es- 
' sences, as compose human pains and pleasures, 
' dislikes and preferences." 

Thus you will perceive that the author com- 
mences his investigation of the science with the 
acknowledged adoption of an indeterminate or 
doubtful principle ; notwithstanding which, when 
dilating on conclusions, he sets them down as de- 
terminate, or positive ; or, in other words, of two 
propositions, not being able t® compreliend the 
lesser, he nevertheless, professes to comprehend 
the greater, which includes the lesser ; and of this 
you vvill be convinced on perusing tlie following 
passage, extracted from page 37 of the same 
chapter: — 

" Nor are errors on this subject by any means 
' confined to those who have pursued its study 
' in their closets. On the contrary, the most 
' pernicious fallacies, and absurd paradoxes, have 
' been, and still are, generally current among 
' those who pride themselves on being " prac- 
' tical" men, and on despising' theory. There 
' are, indeed, few rasher tlieorisls than those who 
' habitually exclaim against theory. The notions, 
' for example, that a country is enriched by 
' what is called a favorable balance of trade caus- 
' ing an influx of the precious metals ; that the 
' expenditure of taxes, in employing the people, 
' comi)cnsates them for the burden of taxation : 
' that improvements in machinery arc injurious to 
' the laboring class ; that one individual, or one 

* country, can only gain at the expense of anoth- 
' er ; that the outlay of an absentee's income 
' abroad, or the introduction, for sale in this coun- 
' try, of an article of foreign manufacture, ab- 
' stracls an equal amount of employment from 
' our native industry; — these, and many others 
' that might be mentioned, are theoretical doc 
' trines of the falsest and most injurious charac 
' ter, taken up by numerous persons, on what they 

♦ consider the authority of common sense, but 



' which, in truth, is merely crude induction from a 
' very limited and imperfect experience." 

Of the passage just quoted, I beg to call your 
attention, in a more particidar manner, to that 
part having reference to the outlay of an absen- 
tee's income, and the introduction for sale, into a 
country, of an article of foreign manufacture ; 
for herein the author's conclusion does not par- 
take, in the slightest degree, of the nature of 
doubt, but his opinion is of a character entirely 
positive. Thus it is at the commencement of his 
investigation, when he can deal with the facts of 
the subject in so cursory a manner as to mould 
them accordantly with his own will ; but I shall 
now request your attention to another part of his 
work, where his course of argument is presented 
under a very altered aspect. In the fifteenth 
chapter, and at page 393, and following, the au- 
thor arrives at that stage of his investigation 
where the facts necessarily coerce him into an 
abandonment of simple assertions, and conclu- 
sions unconnected with premises, and, in their 
places, to trace, with some degree of accuracy, 
the agency and connection of cause and effect ; 
and now you will remark that the facts of his 
proposition, though badly and confusedly worked 
together, yet lead him to the necessity of rever- 
sing his former conclusion. The passage is long, 
and, on account of ill-arrangement, and the com- 
mingling of heterogeneous matter, will prove te- 
dious on perusal ; notwithstanding whicli, it must 
be carefully separated and minutely examined, 
and, this being done, I feel certain you will be of 
opinion that it contains a complete summary, and, 
consequently, aftbrds an additional proof of the 
weak, ill-constructed, and false line of argument 
by which it has been attempted to develop the 
truth of this great subject. The passage is as 
follows : — 

" The disputed questio 1 of the effects of absen- 
' teeism is connected with that of commercial re. 
' straints, and, therefore, comes properly into dis- 
' cussion in this place. The moral benefit which 
' the rcsldonce of landlords upon their estates 
' tends to confer tipon society, has been conceded 
' by those who at first denied that residence was 
' any advantage whatever, and consequently, that 
' absenteeism could be any injury. The econom- 
' ical consequences of absenteeism, so far as re- 
' lates to England, consist, it appears to us, sim- 
' ply in such as may flow from the landlord's in- 
' come being expended in the employment of one 
' branch of industry rather than another, or of the 
' inhabitants of a town rather than of a country 
' district. If an English landlord reside in Lon- 
' don, and expend there his rental, drawn from 
' Yorkshire, the tradesmen, &c, of London, gairi 
' all that the tradesmen, &c, of Yorkshire lose. 
' If he reside abroad, his rental must be remitted 
' indirectly, in British manufactured commodi- 
' ties, and its expenditure, therefore, gives the 
' same aggregate employment to British capital 
' and labor, as if he resided in the coimtry, and 
' spent it on British goods of a different kind. 
' To put an extreme case, were even the tohole 
' rental of the kingdom spent abroad, there would 
' still be as much employment alForded to British 
' industry as before. Ruin nwuld no doubt fall 
' upon the tradesmen of London, of our loatering 
places, and many country towns and villages ; 



28 



Political Economy. 



* but Manchester and Sheffield, Leeds and Liv- 

* erpool, would gain in exact proportion to the 

* loss sustained by other places. The rental 
' could not be remitted, except in the form of 
' British manufactures, fabricated at some of 
' these places. It is not meant to deny that great 
' injury would not result from the absenteeism of 
' all our landed proprietors ; but the injury would 
' be of a moral and social rather tlian an cconom- 
' ical nature. 

" The case of Ireland, however, differs from 

* that of Britain, in this remarkable point, that, 
' while the latter expoits solely manufactures, the 
' exports of Ireland consist solely of food, — corn, 
' butter, pork, beef, &-c. In her case, therefore, 
' that portion of the raw produce of the soil 
' which accrues to the landlord as rent, will, if 

* he is an absentee, be directly exported, as the 
' only means of remitting his rent, instead of be- 
' ing consumed by manufacturers at home, while 
' working up goods for exportation, as in England, 
' Tiie English absentee landlord may be consider- 
' ed as feeding and employing, with the sui-plus 
' produce of his estate, that portion of oiu" manu- 

* facturing population, which is engaged in 

* fabricating the goods that are sent abroad to pay 
' his rent. The Irish absentee, on the contrai'y, 
' can only have his rent remitted in the shape of 
' food — there is no secondary intervening process 
' whatever ; and the more food is in tliis way sent 

* out of the country, the less, of course, remains 
' behind to support and give eniploj'ment to its 

* inhabitants. If these were all fully fed and em- 
' ployed, no harm woidd result from the exporta- 
' tion of food, as is the case, for example, witli 
' some parts of North America. But so long as 

* the people of any country are, as in Ireland, bat 

* half-employ "d, and half-fed — so long, to export 
' food from ilience, will be to take away the 
' means existing in the country for setting thcni 
' to work, and improving their condition. Should 
' the Irish absentee landlord return to reside at 

* home, a considerable portion of the food now 
' exported to pay his rent ii-ould be transferred 
' hy him to Irish tradesmen, artisans, and la- 
' borers, ichom he could not avoid employing to 

* satisfy a variety of tiwnts. Ireland would pro- 
' fit, jno tanto, by the additional employment and 
■ subsistence afforded to her inhabitants. As it 
' is, she loses, by the absence of her landlords, ex- 
' actly what she would gain by their return." 

As I feel called upon to remark generally upon 
the absence of coherency, and alsfj upon Ihe in- 
correctness witli wliich the propositions contained 
in the foregoing passages are ])ut together, and to 
invite your attention to Ihe discrepancy that ex- 
ists between the line of argument, which it con- 
tains, and that jirrviously adduced from the ear- 
lier |)art of tlic s;unc work ; yet I nuist beg you to 
fix your notice niore especially on the paragraph 
near the end, comiriincing with the words, 
" Should the Irish absentee landlord return to re- 
side at home," «Slc. because it will be found that 
in this passage there is a reconstruction of the 
identical proposition of the two sources of pro- 
duction as laid down by Adam Smith and Say, 
ordy, the conclusion is substantiated by means of 
a backward process of inference. And here it is 
interesting to note the strong agency of fact,-: in 
urging on a recognition of truth ; lor ill tiic in. 



stance now before us it is accompUshed, even 
though the mind of the author is in a state so 
perplexed and bewildered by the previous advoca- 
cy of an opposite line of argument, that it does 
not perceive the consequences issuing out of the 
proposition it has been under the necessity of 
constructing ; hence, no material change in his 
general conclusions, or even a doubt of their va- 
lidity is effected, on account of the adoption by 
himself of a contrariety of argument. 

At this part of the investigation, I desire to call 
your attention to another remarkable featui'e per- 
vading the entire matter of argument now brought 
imder notice. It is manifest, that the duty im- 
perative on those who were arguing the case, was, 
to have exliibited a well-defined source of advan- 
tage accruing from the proposed change : for the 
object sought to be attained by making the change 
is that of opening a way to the formation of ad- 
ditional capital, in order that the increase of the 
means of sustaining population, and the increase 
of population, may be preserved in a progression 
justly proportioned, the one to the other. In the 
place of which, the whole attention has been ab- 
sorbed, and the whole strength of argument ex- 
pended, merely on the attempt to show that from 
such a change as that contemplated no retrogres- 
sive movement, or ill effect will ensue ; and even 
on arguing the case in this improperly limited and 
unbeneficial sense, all the eftbrts to sustain it 
have proved futile. 

The deficiency to which T have just called at- 
tention, though pervading the whole of the argu- 
ments adduced, is yet rendered so conspicuous in 
the passage last quoted from the work of Mr. 
Poulet Serope, that I cannot avoid feeling the 
greatest surprise at its having' escaped the notice 
of the autlior himself. This writer, when dila- 
ting on the consequences of indulging to a very 
great degree in a taste for foreign commodities by 
the people of tliis country, frames his case suc- 
cinctly, and then decides upon its results. He has 
informed us, that in the event of a great portion 
of the income of the country being expended 
abroad, ruin would without doubt fall, first on the 
tradesmen of London ; then upon those of our 
watering-places; then upon 7nuny country towns; 
and then upon many villages ; — but that Man- 
Chester and Sheflield, Leeds and Liverpool, would 
gain in exact proportion to the loss sustained by 
the other places. Now if I should concede the 
possibility of realizing the theory hero advanced, 
hy admitting that the loss will be succeeded by 
tlie gain, or the decrease by the increase, (and I 
shall have to show hereafter that it will not ;) yet, 
taking the terms of the proposition as granted 
strictlv, even then, the result must he in every 
way prejudicial. The writer asserts that the gain 
of some places will be " exarlhj proportioned,'" 
to the loss of others. Now the words " exactly 
proportioned," must of necessity assign an equal 
measure or quantity to hotm thejiredicatefl of this 
proposition. The implication therefore is, that 
the predicate antecedent, and the j>redicate jiro. 
ceilent are ('(jual the one to the other. The 
problem will Ilieii slund llius. Let the suhlrac- 
liou from an asrertainrd congregate bo equal to 
the number l(J()(l, — let the addition to anotlier 
aH(Hirluined congregate he also ecpial to the num- 
ber 1000, — hence, no increase in the aggregate. 



M' Cullocii on Free Trade and Protection. 



It follows, therefore, that the postulate or object 
required, which is increase, is not found. 

I will now bring forward another error, which 
is similar and of equal importance to that which 
I have just examined. It is contained in that 
part of Mr. M'Culloch's " Principles of Political 
Economy," to which I have before alluded, and 
occurs at page 155. It is as follows : 

" Admitting however, that the total abolition of 
' the prohibitive system might force a few thou- 
' sand workmen to abandon their present occupa- 
' tions, it is material to observe that equivalent 
' new ones would, in consequence, be open to re- 
' ceive them ; and that the total aggregate de- 
' mand for their services would not be in any de- 
' gree di7ninished. Suppose that, under a sys- 
' tem of free trade, we imported a part of the 
' silks and linens we now manufacture at home : 
' it is quite clear, inasmuch as neither the French 
' nor Germans would send us their commodities 
' gratis, that we should have to give them an 
' equal amount of British commodities in cx- 
' change; so that such of our artificers as had 
' been engaged in the silk and linen manufac- 
' tures, and were thrown out of them, would, in 
' future, obtain employment in the production of 
' the articles that must be exported as equiva- 
' lents to the foreigner. We may, by giving ad- 
' ditional freedom to commerce, change the spe- 
' cies of labor in demand, but we cannot lessen 
' its quantity." 

It is here asserted, that in the event of a stated 
degree of freedom being acted on, workmen would 
be forced to abandon their occupations, but that 
it is material to observe that equivalent new ones 
would, in consequence, be open to receive them, 
and that the total aggregate demand for their 
services would not bp in any degree diminished. 
Here then is exhibited a deficiency of matter 
which is of a character precisely similar to that 
which I have noticed as existing in the work of 
Mr. Poulet Scrope. The author has abandoned 
the great position which he was bound to have 
maintained, namely, that of increase. From this 
he has retreated, and has taken his stand merely 
on an equivalent. Injury is admitted by the first 
portion of his proposition ; and only an equiva- 
lent is contended for by the last. 

To show how cruelly such a course of action 
would operate, I will suppose the case in its ap- 
plication to a number of agricultural laborers. 
' They are informed that it is necessary they should 
abandon the occupation in which tliey have been 
brought up, and instead of laboring in the fields, 
tliey must henceforth labor in the factories. Now, 
in effecting such a change, how much of severe 
suffering must be endured ! The parties are to 
be forced to quit the scenes of all their earliest, 
and to them most happy, associations, the places 
where alone they may have relatives and friends. 
Their habits of life are to undergo an entire 
change. The art in whicli they have been edu- 
cated and are toiling, the habit of which has be- 
come so firmly rooted in their natures, is to be 
abandoned, and m its place a new and most irk- 
some employment is to be learnt and to be prac- 
ticed. Many other circumstances might be enu- 
merated, showing the misery which could not 
fail to be attendant upon the course of change 
here alluded to. Now all this is to be undertaken 



and endured, and yet no social advantage what- 
ever is shown as accruing. For as it respects the 
entire community, a thing in possession is to be 
rehnquished, and one of equal capacity merely 
is to be had in its place ; " equivalent new ones " 
bemg the utmost amount that is contended for. 
If it could be shown that such a course of change 
as that adverted to was necessary in order to se- 
cure the acJvancement of other persons, and that 
it embraced likewise the ultimate good of the 
parties immediately connected with the change, 
or even of their descendants, that is, that it em- 
iDodied the great law of general increase, the 
course could not be objected against, and must be 
cheerfully submitted to, notwithstanding the suf- 
ferings by which it may be accompanied. But it 
will be seen that no such law as that of increase is 
attempted to be shown, and I shall have to prove 
hereafter, that even the equivalent which these 
writers have so carelessly introduced into their 
trains of reasoning, cannot be maintained. I 
shall have to show that the law of expansion or 
increase consists in an arrangement of matter 
very difterent from that which they have put 
forth. 

Thus it is obvious that a course of action has 
been traced out and promulgated as the theory 
which is to briijg in its train extensive devasta- 
tion, misery, and ruin, without the pretext of 
utility being even put forth as an inducement for 
its adoption. Such a state of things, if brought 
about, would, assuredly, be the realizing that 
pernicious and destructive economy which every 
benevolent" man would desire to see averted, 
which every wise legislator would use his most 
strenuous efforts to OTunteract, and which every 
writer on political economy professes to argue 
against. 

I will now adduce an example of the equally 
weak, inconsiderate, and careless manner in which 
tlxis great subject has been treated when it has 
been surveyed in its practical character, that is, 
after the theory which I have now examined, has 
been urged on its course, and its effects upon the 
condition of mankind brought under observation. 
The matter which I request you to consider, is 
contained in a speech made by Dr. Bowring in 
the House of Commons, in July, 1835, on the 
subject of the distress of the Hand-loom Weavers, 
and is as follows : 

" I will recall to the House some few facts 
' elicited before former Committees, showing that 
' this distress of the weavers has been but of too 
' frequent occurrence, and I think I can show 
' that it is an inevitable condition of a species of 
' labor easily learned, and constantly intruded on 
' and superseded by cheaper means of production. 
' A very short cessation of demand, where the 
' competition for work is so great, and the work- 
' men so multitudinous, produces a crisis. The 
' hand-loom weavers are on the verge of that 
' state, beyond which human existence can hardly 
' be sustained, and a very trifling check hurls them 
' into the regions of starvation. The Committee 
' of 1818 asserted that the silk-ribbon weavers 
' were suffering great privations and distress. 
' Witnesses then stated that a warper could only 
' get 3s. Gd. per week, and a weaver 4s. ; that 
' ordinary weavers were only paid 5s. Gd. a week. 
' Now, if tlie price of food at that period be con. 



3d 



Political Economy. 



' sidered, their distress must have been extreme ; 
' and the same or similar details have been | 
' brought out at every investigation. In 1826, . 
' the silk- weavers were stated to have gained on , 
' an average only 5s. Grf. per week; and the 
' Hand-loom Weavers' Committee have had it , 
' given in evidence, that in certain districts not ! 
' 3s. 6fZ. per week was paid to the weaver. To ^ 
' deny their right to commiseration would be as i 
' thoughtless as cruel. I do not deny it. I only : 
' implore a fit attention to the remedies proposed, j 
' No one can shut his eyes to the great changes , 
' which the improvements of machinery have in- ■ 
' troduced into the whole field of manufacturing j 
' industry — improvements, whicli, by superseding ; 
' manual labor more and more, infallibly bring 
' with them in the transition much of temporary j 
■■' suffering. The condition of the man who has j 
' to compete with a cheaper, better, or more rapid 
' mode of production, must be deteriorated. The 
* national good cannot be purchased but at the 
' expense of some individual evil. No advance 
' was ever made in manufactures but at some 
' cost to those who were in the rear ; and of all 
' discoveries, the power-loom is that wliich most 
' directly bears on the condition of the hand-loom 
' weaver. He is already beaten out of the field 
' in many articles ; he wall infallibly be compelled 
' to suiTcnder many more. 

" I hold, Sir, in my hand, the correspondence 
' which has taken place between the Governor- 
' General of India and the Kast India Company, 
' on the subject of the Dacca hand-loom weavers. 
' It is a melancholy story of misery as far as they 
' arc concerned, and as striking an evidence of 
' the wonderful progress of manufaftnring indns- 
' try in this country. Some years ago the East 
' India Company annually received of tlie pro- 
' duce of the looms of India to the amount of 
' from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 of plcc-s of cotton 
' goods. The demand gradually fell, to some- 
' what more than 1,000,000, and has now nearly 
' ceased altogether. In 1800, the United States 
' took from India nearly 800,000 pieces of cot- 
' tons ; in 1830 not 4000. In 1800, 1,000,000 
' pieces were shipped to Portugal; in 1830, only 
<■ !20,000. Terrible are the accounts of the wretcli- 
' edness of the poor Indian weavers, reduced to 
' absolute starvation. And wliat was the sole 
' cause ? The presence of the cheaper English 
* manufacture, the production by the power-loom 
' f)f the article which these unhappy Ilindoos liad 
' been used for ages to make by tlieir unimproved 
' and hand-directed shuttli^s. Sir, it was impns- 
' sible that tlicy could go on weaving what no 
' one would wear or buy. Numbers of them died 
' of Inmgcr; tlic remainder were, for the most 
' part, transferred tootheroccupations, j)rincipally 
' agricultural. Not to liave changed their trade 
' was inevitable starvation. And at tiiis moment, 
' Sir, that Dacca distriet is supplied with yarn 
'and cotton dotli from the power-looms of I'-ng- 
' land. I will ask tlie advocates of .Mr. Ficldcn's 
' mi^asure, whether liis IJill, or a tiiousaud such 
' Hills, w<jul(l have kept u]) wages in Dacca, or 
' have prevented one iota of the calamities which 
' there liad but one possiblt; remedy, a (-hange of 
' occupation t The language of the (iovernor- 
' General is, — 

" ' European Bkill and machinery have super. 



' 'seded the produce of India. The court de- 
' ' dare, that they are at last obliged to abandon 
' 'the only remaining jiortion of the trade in 
' ' cotton manufactures, both in Bengal and Ma- 
' 'dras, because, through the intervention of 
' ' power-looms, the British goods have a decided 
' ' advantage in quality and price. Cotton piece- 
' ' goods, for so many ages the staple manufac- 
' ' ture of India, seems thus for ever lost. The 
' ' Dacca muslins, celebrated over the whole i 
' 'world for their beauty and fineness, are also j 
' 'annihilated, from the same cause. And the j 
' ' present suiTcring, to numerous classes in India, | 
' ' is scarcely to be pai-alleled in the history of ' 
' ' commerce.' " 

Now, the facts thus stated are the results of 
the application of the free principle of trade to a 
class of the people of India and of England. As 
they respect the former, they present indeed a la- 
mentable picture of wide-spreading destruction 
and misery. Upon considering the nature of the 
matter thus presented, I must entreat yovi to re- 
mark especially, that throughout the description 
here given there is no allusion made to the opera- 
tion of the great compensating principle. If the 
speaker had entertained an entire confidence in 
the principle of free trade, he would, after having 
described the lamentable issues of his theorj', 
have endeavored to show that the people thus 
oppressed and injured by the changes effected in 
one quarter, had yet foimd their labor demanded, 
or their injuries compensated for, by increased 
prosperity in another quarter; and hence, in the 
aggregate, the condition of the entire people had 
been improved. Rut instead of this, tliu com- 
prehensive language of the Govcrnor-Gencral 
is, — " I'he present suffering to numerous classes 
in Tudiu, ia scarcely Lo be paralleled in the history 
of couuncrce." The words " numerous classes" 
demand especial consideration, and should lead 
to the following out the facts to their most ex- 
tended ramifications. 

In giving the above description, the speaker 
has taken upon himself to assure us that individ- 
ual injury is the inseparable concomitant of na- 
tional good. Now it would have been better at 
the same time tliat lie had put forth so formida- 
ble a proposition, that he had shown also the quar- 
ter whence lie liad derived it. I beg to express 
a thorough conviction, wliich I will substantiate 
hereafter, of its being wholly false, and merely 
struck out for the purpose of momentary convc- ^ 
nience : and tbat if the speaker had been urged | 
upon a course of ])roof, he would quickly have 
sought refuge for liis recklessness and his weak- 
ness behind a form of words wliich, on occasions 
of similar dilliculty, liave been found so usefcil 
and so indis|)ensable to his coadjutors ; the words 
I allude to arc — "the subject does not admit of 
a satisfactory solution." 

Having concluded this ]>orlion «)f my argu- 
ment. I think it right in this phici; to advert more 
largely to tlu^ writings of Adam .Siuilh, because 
this author has treated more elaborately and more 
iutinentially than any other on the great subject i 
which we an; called u|)on to investigate. Tlie 
work of this author, the ' Wealth of NnlionB,' 
lias acr|uircd for his name so much celebrity, and 
has hccn so highly extolled liy statesmen and 
writers on Political Economy, that I feci deep re- 



Adam. Smith on Protective Duties. 



31 



gret at having to unpugn the judgement pro- 
nounced upon it. But the highest tribute that 
caui be offered to the memory of the author of 
such a work is to infer that his mind was actua- 
ted solely by a love of truth, and that it would 
be fulfilling his wishes and intentions if I should 
be able to separate in it that which is false from 
that which is true, so that the dullness and defor- 
mity of the one may be brought into contrast 
with the purity and lustre of the other. 

It has been said of his work that it contains a 
limiinous exposition of the great subject of which 
it treats, but a few references and arguments will 
show that such an opinion has been delivered 
without due consideration. With regard then 
to the remarkable proposition which has formed 
the substantive matter of the preceding part of 
my argument, wherein the superior advanta- 
geousness to a country of its home trade is as- 
serted, and which has excited so much notice, and 
created so much confusion among commentators 
and reasoners, and which remains to the present 
moment wholly undisposed of, 1 have to observe, 
that it would appear as though his irdnd had been 
enabled to take merely a sudden or transient view 
of the great arrangement of facts which the 
proposition expresses ; for, subsequently, he falls 
away altogether from it, and proceeds, on many 
occasions, to argue in direct opposition to the 
great conclusion thereby adopted. 

The 4th book of this work is devoted to an ex- 
simination of the different systems of Political 
Economy, and herein the polic}' of affixing regu- 
lations or restrictions upon productions is treated 
of in a most elaborate manner. The matter oc- 
cupies about one-third part of the entire work. The 
author commences the 2d chapter of this book 
by bringing under notice the restrictions and pro- 
hibitions which the legislature has enacted at dif- 
ferent periods for the purpose of protecting such 
commodities as are or can be produced at home 
against the introduction and competition of simi- 
lar commodities from abroad, whereby the mo- 
nopoly of the home-market has been secured to 
the domestic capital and industry employed in 
producing these commodities. He then draws 
into instance several of the great staple produc- 
tions of the country, both agricultural and man- 
ufacturing, as having this protection — these are 
corn, live-stock, and salt provisions, woolen man- 
-^jifactures, silk manufactures, and also many other 
kinds of manufactures, and proceeds to admit 
that the persons who are mterested in these sour- 
ces of production derive great advantage from 
the protection or monopoly thus afforded them. 
The passage is as follows : — 

" By restraining, either by high duties or by ab- 
' solute prohibition, the importation of such goods 
' from foreign countries as can be produced at 
' liomc, the monopoly of the home-market is 
' more or less secured to the domestic industry 
' employed in producing tliem. Thus the prohi- 
' bition of importing either live cattle or salt pro- 
' visions from foreign coimtries secures to the 
' graziers of Great Britain tlie monopoly of the 
' home-market for butcher's meat. -The high du- 
' ties upon the importation of corn, which in 
' times of moderate plenty amount to a prohibi- 
' tion, give a like advantage to tjie growers of 
' that commodity. The prohibition of the impor. 



' tation of foreign woolens is equally favorable to 
' the woolen manufacturers. The silk manufac- 
' ture, though altogether employed upon foreign 
' materials, has lately obtained the same advan- 
' tage. The linen manufacture has not yet ob- 
' tained it, but is making great strides toward it. 
' Many other sorts of manufactures have, in the 
' same manner, obtained in Great Britain, either 
' altogether or very nearly, a monopoly against 
' their countrymen. The variety of goods, of 
' which the importation into Great Britain is pro- 
' hibited, either absolutely or under certain cir- 
' cumstances, greatly exceeds what can easily 
' be suspected by those who are not well acquaint- 
' ed with the la.ws of the customs." 

Now upon the front of such an argument as 
is here advanced, it would appear that, as advan- 
tage to all is the thing sought after — and as ad- 
vantage to some, by means of a defined line of 
action is here admitted, so, by parity of reason, 
if by means of similar regulations, advantage 
were carried on or extended to all, the end re- 
quired would be attained. The author, however, 
does not thus carry forward his course of reason- 
ing, as the following passage which immediately 
succeeds, will show : — 

" That this monopoly of the home market fre- 
' quently gives great encouragement to that par- 
' ticular species of industry which enjoys it, and 
' frequently turns toward that employment a 
' greater share of both the labor and stock of the 
' societj'- than would otherwise have gone to it, ,, 
' cannot be doubted. But lohether it tends either 
' to increase the general, industry of the society, 
' or to give it the most advantageous direction, is 

' not, PERHAPS, ALTOGETHER SO EVIDENT. 

" The general industry of the society never can 
' exceed what the capital of the society can eni- 
' ploy. As the number of workmen that can be 
' kept in employment by any particular person 
' must bear a certain proportion to his capital, so 
' the number of those that can be continually 
' employed by all the members of a great society, 
' must bear a certain proportion to the whole capi- 
' talof that society, andnever can exceed that pro. 
' portion, no regulation of commerce can increase 
' the quantity of industry in any society beyond 
' what its capital can maintain. It can only di- 
' vert a part of it into a direction into which it 
' might not otherwise have gone ; and it is by no 
' means certain, that this artificial direction is 
' likely to be more advantageous to the society 
' than that into which it would have gone of its 
' own accord." 

Now here occurs one of those great and im- 
portant points of the science, upon treating which 
it was the duty of the author to have proceeded 
with the utmost circumspection, to have exerted 
the whole of his ability, that he might have 
brought into operation the strength of a general 
pnnciple, in order cither to establish or to annul 
the theory advanced. But in the place of this, 
he has put in one of those weak admissions which 
are of such frequent occurrence in works on Po- 
litical Economy, and which, by a few words, 
fixes the taint of falseness upon an entire course 
of argument. With respect to the truth of the 
theory, the utmost that he has been able to ad- 
vance directly is, that " it is not, perhaps, alto- 
gether so evident." It will be seen, however, that 



32 



Political Economy. 



the leaning of the passage is toward the truth of 
the theory of regulation. 

Having thus brought together a mass of facts, 
and adverted to the laws which affect their rela- 
tionship, and then finding his knowledge of the 
subject insufficient to reduce them to order, he is 
tempted to get out of the difficulty in which he 
is placed, by adopting the following argument, 
which occurs at the bottom of the same page 
from which the last quotation is made : — 

" Every individual is continually exerting liim- 
' self to find out the most advantageous cmploy- 
' nient for whatever capital he can command. — 
' It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of 
' the society that he has in view — hid the study 
' of his nivn adi-nntage, naturally, or rathrr nc 
' cessarily, leads liim to prefer that employment 
' ivhich is most advantageous to the society." 

Now this argument contains a principle which, 
if it were true, would indeed solve the difficulty, 
and dispose of the entire question. But it must 
be particularly noticed, that it is merely an as- 
sumed princii)le, not a proved one ; and in order 
to see clearly the incongruity of the autlinr's gen- 
eral course of argument, it will only l)e necessary 
to apply the principle here advanced to the pro- 
position laid down by himself respecting the su- 
perior advantageousness of home over foreign 
trade. It will then become apparent, that eitlier 
the principle must break down the proposition, 
or, that the proposition must recoil upon and an- 
nihilate the principle : they cannot be conjoined 
and co-exist. 

Again, when this important and comprehensive 
principle is attempted to be brought into connex- 
ion with the following arguments advanced by 
the same author, it will be evident that union 
cannot subsist between them. The passages oc- 
cur in the second book of the 5th chapter. Treat- 
ing of agricultural production, he says, " No 
' equal quantity of productive labor employed in 
' manufactures can ever occasion so great a re- 

* production. In them nature docs noth'mg, man 
' does all ; and the reproduction must always be 
' in proportion to the strength of the agents that 
' occasion it. The capital employed in agricul- 
' turc, tlicrefore, not only puts into motion a 
' greater quantity of productive labor than any 
' equal capital employed in manufactures, but in 
' proportion, too, to the quantity of productive 
' labor which it employs, it adds a much greater 

* value to the annual produce of tiie land and 
' labor of tlie coimtry, to the real wealth and re- 
' venue of its inhabitants. Of all tiie ways in 
' wliich a capital can be emjdoyed, it is by far 
' the most advantageous to the society." 

And again, in tiie same chapter, and a few pa- 
ger further on, when treating of the comj)arative 
benefits resulting from the tlu'ee kinds of com- 
merce, the agricultural, the manufacturing, and 
tlie foreign, tiierc is as follows : — 

" When the capital of any country is not sulli- 
' cicnt for all these three purposes, in projmrtiou 
' as a greater share of it is employed in agricul- 
' turc, the greater will be the (piantily of ])roduc- 
' live labor which it j)UtH into motion within the 
' (!ountry, as will likewise be the vahu- wliich its 
' employmenl adds to tlu; annual ])roduce of the 
' land and labor of the society. After agricul- 

* ture, tlic capital employed in munnfaeturcs puts 



' into motion the greatest quantity of productive 
' labor, and adds the greatest value to the annual 
' produce. That which is employed in the trade 
' of exportation has the least effect of any of the 
' three." 

Again : — " The returns of the foreign trade of 
' consumption are seldom so quick as those of 
' the home trade. The returns of the home trade 
' generally come in before the end of the year, 
' and sometimes three or four times in the year. 
' The ret urns of the foreign trade of consump- 
' tion seldom come in before the end of the year. . 
' and sometimes not till after two or three yeai's. 
' A capital, therefore, employed in the home 
' trade, will sometimes make twelve operations, 
' or be sent out and returned, twelve times, before 
' a capital employed in the foreign trade of con- 
' smnption has made one. If the capitals are 
' equal, therefore, the one will give four-and-twen- 
' ty times more encouragement and support to 
' the industry of the country than the other." 

I could adduce much more evidence of a sim- 
ilar tendency, but sufficient has been cited to 
show that the antlior hinisclf has destroyed in 
one place the principle which he has set up in 
another. 

It is desirable to direct, in the most particular 
manner, that attention be paid to the passage 
upon which I have just commented. Its matter 
is of a character of the very highest importance ; 
for it contains the germ or first principle of a 
great universal system.. It would be well to have 
it set aside as a distinct substantive proposition, 
upon the examination of which the most pro- 
found meditation and the strongest powers of the 
mind should be brought to bear. Moreover, it 
should be subjected to the moral test as well as 
to tlio physical. I will quote it here : — 

" Every individual is continually exerting hiin- ( 
' self to find out the most advantageous cniploj'- 
' mcnt for whatever capital he can command. — 
' It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that 
' of the sociely that he has in view. But the 
' study of Ms own adrantage, naturally, or ra. 
' ther nercssal-ily, leads him to prefer that em- 
' ployment which is most advantageous to the 
' society." 

With regard to the matter contained in the 
passage now under notice, Locke has argued very j 
differently in his treatise, entitled " Considerations 
of lowering the Interest and raising the Value of 
Money." lie therein asserts, tliat " the merchant 
may get rich by a trade that makes the kingdom 
poor." .4nd, in another part of tiie same work, 
as bearing on the subject generally, tiierc is as 
follows : — " If tiie rertue and provident way of 
' living of our ancestors (contctil witii our native 
' conveniences of life, witliout tlie costly itch af- 
' ter tlie materials of pride and liixur}' from 
' abroad) were brought in fashion and countenance 
' again among us. this alone would do more to 
' keep and increase our wealth, and enricli our 
' laud, than all our j)aper hel|>s about interest, mo. 
' nvy, bullion, &:c, which, iiowever eagerly we 
' catch at, will not, 1 fear, witliout better hus- 
' bandry, keep us from sinking, whatever contri- 
' vanecs we may liave recourse to. 'Tis witli a 
' kingdom, as with a family. Spending less than 
' our own commodities will pay for, is the sure 
' and only way for the nation to grow rich. And 



Adam Smith on the Restrictive Policy. 



33 



• when that begins once seriously to be consider- 
' ed, and our faces and steps are in earnest turn- 
' ed that way, we may hope to have our rents 
' rise, and the public stock thrive again. Till 
' then we in vain, I fear, endeavor with noise and 
' weapons of law to drive the wolf from our own 
' to another's doors : the breed ought to be extir. 
' pated out of the island. For want, brought in 
' by ill-management, and nursed up by expensive 
' vanity, will make the nation poor, and spare 
' nobody." 

Upon extending my examination into that part 
of the " Wealth of Nations," wherein its author 
has entered upon a consideration of the important 
branch of the science — the wages of labor — and 
where he has attempted to discuss the efHciency 
of the free as compared with the regulating prin- 
ciple, I find that his course of argument presents 
a similar infirmity, both of premises and conclu- 
sions, as that which inheres in his treatment of 
the question, of the effects of regulations on capi. 
tal. In the 1st book, and the 10th chapter, he di- 
lates on the law of apprenticeship, and on the in- 
stitution of corporations, and there occur the fol- 
lowing passages : — 

" Long apprenticeships are altogether unneces- 
' sary. The arts, which are much superior to 
' common trades, su6h as those of making clocks 
' and watches, contain no such mystery as to re- 
' quire a long course of instruction. The first 
' invention of such beautiful machines, mdeed, 
' and even that of some of the instruments em- 
' ployed in making them, must, no doubt, have 
' been the work of deep thought, and long time, 
' and may justly be considered as among the 
' happiest efforts of human ingenuity. But when 
' both have been fairly invented, and are well 
' understood, to explain to any young man, in 
' the completest manner, how to apply the in- 
' struments and how to construct the machines, 
' cannot well require more than the lessons of a 
' few weeks — perhaps those of a few days might 
' be sufficient. In the common mechanic trades, 
' those of a few days might certainly be suffi- 
' cient. Dexterity of hand, indeed, even in com- 
' mon trades, cannot be acquired without much 
' practice and experience. But a young man would 
' practice with more diligence and attention, if, 
' from the beginning, he wrought as a journey- 
' man ; bein^ paid in proportion to the little work 
' which he could execute, and paying, in his turn, 
' for the materials which he might sometimes spoil 
"~*"through awkwardness or inexperience. His cd- 
' ucation would generally, in this way, be more 
' effectual, and always less tedious arid expensive. 
' Tlie master, indeed, would, he a loser. He 
' would lose all the wages of the apprentice, 
' which he now saves for seven years together. — 
' In the end, perhaps, the apprentice himself 
' would be a loser. In a trade so easily learned 
' he would have more competitors, and his wages, 
' when he came to be a complete workman, would 
' be much less than at present. The same in- 
' crease of competition would reduce the profits 
' of the masters, as loell as the wages of the 
' workmen. The trades, the crafts, the myste- 
' ries, would all be losers. But the public would 
' be a gainer, the work of all artificers coming, 
' in this way, much cheaper to 7narket." 
" It is to prevent this reduction of price, and, 



' consequently of wages and profits, by restrain- 
' ing the free competition which would most cer- 
' tainl;f occasion it, that all corporations, and the 
' greater part of corporation laws, have been es- 
' tabhshed." 

" The government of towns corporate were alto- 
' gether in the hands of traders and artificers ; 
' and it was the manifest interest of every partic- 
' ular class of them to prevent the market from 
' being overstocked, as they commonly express it, 
' with their own particular species of industry ; 
' which is, in reality, to keep it always understock- 
' ed. Each class was eager to establish regula- 
' tions proper for this purpose, and, provided it 
' was allowed to do so, was willing to consent 
' that every other class should do the same. In 
' consequence of such regulations, indeed, each 
' class was obliged to buy the goods they had oc- 
' casion for from every other withm the town, 
' somewhat dearer than they otherwise might 
' have done. But, in recompense, they were en- 
' abled to sell their own just as much dearer,; so 
' that, so far, it was as broad as long, as they say ; 
' and in the dealings of the different classes with- 
' in the town, with one another, none of them 
' were losers by these regulations. But, in their 
' deahngs with the country, they were all great 
' gainers ; and in these latter dealings consists 
' the whole trade which sujjports and enriches ev- 
' cry town." — I do not conceive it to be necessa- 
ry that I should pause for the purpose of analy- 
sing the matter thus extracted. The errors it 
contams are so great, and so conspicuous that 
the most careless observer cannot fail to perceive 
them. 

I will now adduce another passage having re- 
ference to the Colonial policy of the country ; 
and, if the matter expressed therein could be sub- 
stantiated, this policy would be placed in a most 
beneficial and important point of view. The 
passage occm-s in the 7th chapter of the 4th 
book, and is as follows : — 

" Secondly, this monopoly has necessarily con- 
' tributed to keep up the rate of profit in ALL 
'. the different branches of British trade, higher 
' than it naturally would have been had all na- 
' tions been allowed a free trade to the British 
' colonies. The monopoly of the colony trade, as 
' it necessarily drew towards that trade a greater 
' proportion of the capital of Great Britain than 
' what would have gone to it of its own accord ; 
' so| by the expulsion of all foreign capitals, it 
' necessarily reduced the whole quantity of capi- 
' tal employed in that trade below what it would 
' naturally have been in the case of a free 
' trade. But; by lessening the competition of 
' capital in that branch of trade, it necessarily 
' raised the rate of profit in that branch. By les- 
' sening, too, the competition of British capitals 
' in ALL other branches of trade, it necessarily 
' raised the rate-tjf British profit in ALL iAo.se 
' other brancftes. Whatever may have been, at 
' any particular period since the establishment of 
' the Act of Navigation, the state or extent of 
' the mercantile capital of Great Britain, the mo- 
' nopoly of the colony trade must, during the con- 
' tinuance of that state, have raised the ordinary 
' rate of British profit higher than it otherwise 
' would have been, both in that and ALL the oth- 
' er branches of British trade. If, since the estab- 



34 



Political Economy. 



' lishment of the Act of Navigation, the ordinary 
' rate of Britisli profit has fallen considerably, as 
' it certainly has, it must have fallen still louver, 
' had not the monopoly established by that Act 
' contributed to keep it up." 

Now the passage just quoted, is, probably, the 
most comprehensive proposition of facts, v.-liich 
the work from which it is extracted contains. It 
should be noticed particidarly, that hcrci)i it is de- 
clared, that the advantage accruing from the line 
of policy pursued, was not confined merely to the 
productions or capital immediately conjoined with 
the colonial trade, but was extended to all other 
branches of British trade, that is, the entire capi- 
tal of the countr}^ If this be true, it would be 
impossible to invent more i>erfect mechanism. It 
is remarkable, however, that the author treated 
this in a similar manner as he did his other great 
proposition respecting home trade; for, having 
given birth to his great mental ofTspring, he in- 
stantly commenced tlie o])eration of destroying 
it. 

There are many other passages in this work, 
all combining to prove the great deficiency of 
knowledge under which the author of them nmst 
have labored; but it would be both useless and 
tcchous to collect them. In confirmation, how- 
ever, of the incomplete and erroneous character 
of a very considerable portion of the " Wealth of 
Nations," it will be desirable to make reference to a 
critical sui'vey of the work which is contained in 
the introduction of Mr. M'Culloch's " Princi- 
ples of Political Economy." At page 56, there 
is as follows : — 

" At length, in 1776, our illustrious country- 
' man, Adam Smith, published the ' Wealth of 
* Nations,' a work which has done for political 
' economy what the Essay of Locke did for the 
' philosoph}' of mind. In this work the science 
' was, for the first time, treated in its fullest ex- 
' tent ; and the fundamental iirinciples on which 
' the jjroduction of icealth depends, established 
' beyond the reach of cavil and dispute." 

Again, at page 58 : — '• In adopting the discov- 
' erics of others, he has made them his own ; he has 
' demonstrated the truth of principles on which 
' his predecessors had, in most cases, stumbled by 
' chance ; has separated them from the errors by 
' which they were encumbered, traced their re- 
' mote consequences, and jrointed out their limi- 
' tations ; has shown their practical importance 
' and real value, their mutuul dependence and rc- 
' lation ; and has reduced them into a consistent, 
' harmonious, and beautiful system.'^ 

And again, in the body of his work, wlien 
treating of restrictions on conuncrce, and the 
proiiibitivc system, tiiere occurs at page 158, the 
following ])assage : — " But its complete overthrow 
' was reserved for Dr. Smith, who has examined 
' and refuted the various arguments in favor of 
'commercial restrictions, in the most" able and 
' masterly manner, and witli an amplitude 
' of illustration that leaves nothing to he de- 
' sired." 

After perusing the passages here cited, where- 
by, on account of the great and unqualified cf)m. 
mendation they bestow, the mind is induced to 
entertain a notion of complctcncsH or perfection 
respecting the work ol' which they were written, 
it excites no little surpriao to find the following 



matter by the same author, occurring too in the 
same page as that wherefrom the second quota- 
tion is taken : — 

" But however excellent in many respects, still 
' it cannot be denied that tliere are errors, and 
' those too of no slight importance, in the ' Wealth 
' of Nations.' Dr. Smith does not »i\y, that in 
' prosecuting such branches of industry as are 
' most advantageous to themselves, individuals 
' ncccssaril}' prosecute such as arc at the same 
' time, most advantageous to the public. His 
' Icaiihig to the system of M. Quesnay, a leaning 
' perceptible in every part of his work, made him 
' so far swerve from tlic sounder principles of his 
' own system, as to admit that the preference 
' sliown by individuals in favor of particular ein- 
' ployments is not always a true test of their j>uD- 
' lie advantageousncss. He considered agricul- 
' ture, though not the only productive employ- 
' mcnt, as the most productive of any ; the home 
' trade as more productive than the direct foreign 
' trade ; and the latter than the carrying trade. 
' It is clear, however, that these distinctions arc 
' vtM fundamentally erroneous." 

And again, at the bottom of the same page : — 
' " Perliaps, however, the principal defect in the 
' ' Wealth of Nations,' consists in the erroneous 
' doctrines laid down with respect to the invaria- 
' ble value of corn, and the eftcet of fluctuations 
' in wages and profits on prices. These have 
' prevented Dr. Smith from acquiring clear and 
' accurate notions respecting the nature and cau- 
' ses of rent, and the laws which govern the rate 
' of profit ; and have, in consequence, vitiated 
' the theoretical conclusions in those parts of his 
' work which treat of the distribution of wealth 
' and the principles of taxation." 

It is greatly to be lamented that in treating of 
a science wherein it is professed to expound both 
social and physical law, and wlicre, consequentl}', 
accuracy of description is of vital importance, — 
this author should have practiced the latitude here 
exhibited. 

It will be seen that his list of exceptions 
is most formidable both in nmnber Emd cha- 
racter. 

In one passage he has declared that the 
FUNDAMENTAL principles on which the produc- 
tion of wealth depends, have been established be- 
yond the reach of eavil and dispute; while, with- 
in the space of two succeeding pages, he has de- 
clared reversely, that the doctrine inculcated rc- 
sjjccting the value to a country of its agricultural 
production, of its home trade, of its foreign trade, 
and of its camying trade, is fundamkntallv er- 
roneous. And llien, in addition to the sources 
of error thus enumerated, he brings into instance 
other erroneous doctrines in the work, alleging 
that these constitute its princh-al defect. 

If one item alone were selected from the list 
of exceptions, )'et this would be sntVicienl to place 
all the great conclusions of the work in abeyance. 
It is this: — the laws which govern the rate of 
profit. Now as (lie oi)ject recjuired is capital or 
wealth ; as profit is a term signifying the increase 
of cai)ital or wealth; so, failing to find the laws 
which govern the rate of profit, is failing to find 
the laws of the formation of cajjital ; or, in other 
words, failing to dcvelope the subject-matter of 
the Bciencc. 



Malthus on Capital and Population. 



35 



ARGUMENT FIRST. 
Part II. 

The question, selected from your Book of In- 
structions, upon the examination of which I will 
now enter, is this : 

" Wliether the evil arises by the increase of their 
' number without a proportional increase in the 
' demand for their labor ?" 

As the matter comprehended by this question 
has been more particularly treated of by Malthus, 
and as his writings have acquired considerable 
influence over a great portion of the j)ublic mind, 
it is incumbent upon mc to du'cct my attention 
to an analysis of the works of this author. 

On referring to his work entitled " Principles of 
Political Economy,"* I find that he commences 
his investigation of the science, by adopting a 
ne-scientific prmciple, which is, that the subject 
of which he is about to treat, does not admit of 
accurate definition, and in other parts of his wri- 
tings, there are re-assertions of this opinion. Such 
a principle being admitted, it was not to be ex- 
pected that in the subsequent investigations and 
arguments of its author, matter of much value 
was to be found. At page 3 he presents an enu- 
meration of the various parts of the subject, 
which, notwithstanding all that has been written 
on them, he considers to be still involved in obscu- 
rity. The passage is as follows : — 

" Since that era, the subject has attracted the 
' attention of a great number of persons, particu. 
' larly during the last twenty or thirty years. — 
' All the main propositions of tlie science have 
' been examined, and the events which have since 
' occurred, tending either to illustrate or confute 
' them, have been repeatedly discussed. The re- 
' suit of this examination and discussion seems to 
' be, that on some very important points there are 
' still great differences of opinion. Among these, 
' perhaps, may be reckoned — the definitions of 
' wealth and of productive labor — the nature and 
' measures of value — the nature and extent of 
' the principles of demand and supply — the origin 
' and progress of rent — the causes ^vllich deter- 
' mine the wages of labor and the profits of stock 
' — the causes which practically retard and limit 
' the progress of wealth — the level of the precious 
' metals in different countries — the principles of 
' taxation, &c. On all these points and many 
' others among the numerous subjects which be- 
' long to political economy, differences have pre- 

,, t vailed among persons whose opinions are enti- 

' tied to attention. Some of these questions are 
' to a certain degree theoretical ; and the solution 
' of' them, though obviously necessary to the im- 
' provement of science, might not essentially af- 
' feet its practical rules ; but others are of such a 
' nature, that the determination of them one way 
' or the other, will necessarily influence the con- 
' duct both of individuals and of governments ; 
' and their correct determination therefore must 
' be a matter of the highest practical import- 
' ance." 

In the passage just quoted, the author has enu- 
merated several main propositions, as being, at 

* On quoling from this -work, I beg to observe that I make 
use of the latest edition published since the death of the au- 
! thor, and which the editor represents to have undergone a re- 
, cent revision by the author himself. 



the period when he wrote, imperfectly investiga- 
ted. From these I will select four, in order that 
they may stand in a prominent poiot of view, 
when their all-important nature cannot fail to be 
discerned and allowed. These are — the nature 
and measure of value — the nature and extent of 
the principles of demand and supply — the causes 
whicJi determine the wages of labor — the causes 
which determine the profits of stock. Now, if 
it be true that these parts of the science, together 
with the others enumerated also, be unknown, I 
shall be justified in asserting that no material 
part of it whatever is known ; for if these seve- 
ral divisions be added together, almost the entire 
subject-matter of the science will be comprised 
in the aggregate thus formed. 

On continuing my investigation of this work, 
I find tliat the author has merely noticed, in a 
cursory manner, the opinions of Ricardo with re- 
gard to the nature of foreign trade, and has, in no 
part, attempted to grapple with the main argu- 
ment, or made allusion to the important problem 
which I have brought under notice in the first 
part of this case, and which ought to have at- 
tracted his especial consideration. Thus de- 
spairing at the outset of his inquiry of discover- 
ing the laws of the formation of capital, and hav- 
ing been baffled in his subsequent efforts, he has, 
in the next place, directed his attention to an in- 
vestigation of the laws of the increase of popu- 
lation. Seeing that he could not find out the way 
to accelerate the growth of the former, he has 
then endeavored to find out the way to retard tlie 
growth of the latter, in order to define the me- 
thod of bringing about that which all admit to be 
desirable, namely, a more just proportion be- 
tween the great mass of population, and the great 
mass of means requisite to sustain it, that is, 
capital. 

Thus it becomes necessary to analyse the mat- 
ter from which this author has derived the impor- 
tant principle which has been denominated his 
" Population Principle," and in order to arrive at 
a just conclusion respecting it, I must make re- 
ference to some portions of his larger work, en- 
titled " An Essay on the Principle of Population." 
Before commencing this analysis, it wUl be desi- 
rable to consider attentively the nature of the 
subject-matter about to be reasoned upon. Now 
the matter herein undertaken to be treated of, 
consists of TWO distinct subjects, the one being 
Population, the other being the means of sustain- 
ing population, which is expressed by the general 
term, Capital. The question propounded for so- 
lution is, a discovery of the principles which fa- 
cilitate the increase of both, in order to define 
which of the two is constituted by the law of na- 
ture to increase in the most rapid degree. The 
subject then will be one of comparative propor- 
tionate progression as issuing out of the princi- 
ple of the increase of population on the one side, 
and the principle of the formation of capital on 
the other. 

Now in order to solve the proposition thus sub- 
mitted for consideration, it will be evident that 
he who undertakes to do so, must be able to de- 
fine the rate of increase of both the subjects 
which the proposition includes. Thus to deter- 
mine the power of increasing population at a 
quicker or slower rate as compared with the pow- 



36 



Political Economy. 



er of forming capital, the principle of the forma- 
tion of capital must be proved ; and to deter- 
mine the power of forming capital at a quicker 
or slower rate as compared with the power of in- 
creasing population, the principle of the increase 
of population must be proved ; for to draw an 
inference from a comparison of any two things 
without the nature of both having been ascer- 
tained, would be a self-evident absurdity. I now 
j)roceed to show that the population principle of 
Malthus stands in the predicament just mentioned. 

With regard, then, to the predicate which this 
author has laid down respecting the first portion 
of the proposition, wliich is Population, in order 
to discover a principle, he has entered upon an 
extensive range of inquiry. He has collected to- 
gether, with much industry, a series of statistical 
facts, by wliich he has proved that the possible 
rate of increase of the human species is equal to 
that of doubling its number in a space of twen- 
ty-five years. Consequently, he infers that there 
is infused into the nature of man a generative 
I'orce adequate to such a degree of production. — 
This he assumes as his hypothesis, calling it a 
geometrical ratio of increase, in contradistinction 
to another, which I shall soon have to examuie, 
and which he denominates an arithmetical ratio. 

Now, in order so show how far the issues of 
this principle are from being coincident with the 
practical natural result, a paper was read before 
the Statistical Society of London, at an ordinary 
meeting, on the 18th of January, 1836. The 
paper was contributed by Mr. Hallam, and was 
founded upon a communication made to him by 
Sir Francis Palsgrave, who, in his researches 
among ancient docmnents in the Record Oflice, 
had found a statistical account of the population 
of England at a very early date. To sliow the 
working of the geometrical principle of Malthus, 
the population at the period of the compilation of 
Doomsday Book, about the year 1086, was taken 
at the number 1,000,000. 



Cycles of Years. 



Number 
of 

(;ycles. 



1086 to 

1111 

1136 

U61 

1186 

1211 

1236 

1261 

1286 

1311 

1336 

1361 

1380 

1411 

1436 

1461 

1486 

1611 

1536 

1561 

ld86 

1611 

1036 

1061 

1680 

1711 

1736 

1761 

1786 

1811 



1111 
1130 
1161 
1186 
1211 
1236 
1261 
1280 
1311 
1336 
1361 
1386 
1411 
11.30 
1461 
1486 
l&U 
1536 
Liei 
1586 
1611 
1636 
1661 
1680 
1711 
1736 
1761 
1786 
IBll 
1836 



7 
8 

n 

10 

u 

12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
35 
26 
27 
28 
tt9 
SO 



Increase according to a 
Geometrical Ratio, tlie 
multiplier beinija, and the 
liypothesis 1,000,000. 



2,000,000 

4,000,000 

8,000,000 

16,000,000 

32,000,000 

6 1,000,000 

128,000,000 

256,000,000 

512,000.111)0 

l,ll-,'.l,llilit_(i(M) 

■J, (MS, (Hill, (10(1 

l.ll'.Mi. (111(1, (Hill 

S.l'.lJ, (111(1, (Kill 

l(j,:ts-l, (11111,111)0 

1)2, 7lis, (Kill, 0(HI 

O.i,;i;i(i,0()0,0l)0 

131,07-J,IIO(I,(1()() 

262,1 11,0110 OIH) 

524,288,000,000 

1, 048.570, OlM), (1(H) 

2,097, 152,0(H),0()0 

4, 191. 30 1,000, 000 

8,38H,(iO,4,(HHI,(l(H) 

16,777,21(i,()(K),()00 

33,554,432,000,000 

C7,10H,H04,00O,000 

134,217,728,000,000 

268,435,456.000,000 

' 586,870,91 2,0(H), 000 

1,073,741,824,000,000 



The intervening period of 750 years gave 
thirty cycles of twenty-five )'ears each. The 
number 1,000,000 was taken as the hypoth- 
esis, and the ratio 2 used as the multiplier, and 
worked to the 30th degree of power. The result 
was, that the population of England, in the year 
1836, should have been as the nmnber 1,068,852,- 
224,000,000,* or 5953 to each square yard of the 
surface of the country. 

Thus the result arrived at shows the false and 
even the absurd conclusion to which we are led 
by working out the inductions from the premises 
given ; notwithstanding which, the premises are 
true. It follows, therefore, that there are certain 
assignable circumstances imder wliich the princi- 
ple will act up to the degree proved, and that 
there are certain other assignable circumstances 
under which it will not. It became then the duty 
of the author to have directed the entire energies 
of Ills mind to. the tracing out the operation of 
these circumstances, and to have refrained from 
drawing conclusions imtU he had gained a perfect 
knowledge of the laws by which such vast and 
important influence is acquired. 

I now beg to dii-ect attention to the matter 
which this author has made use of in order to es. 
tablish his predicate of the second portion of his 
proposition, which is, the slower formation of capi- 
tal, as ordained by natural laws. I have already 
shown the very Imperfect manner in which he 
has treated this great and all-material portion of 
his subject, in his work entitled " Principles of 
Political Economy," and the quotations I shall 
make fj-oin this work, now under examination, 
will be confirmatory of the arguments which I 
have previously advanced against the validity of 
his conclusions. 

In the 1st chapter, and at page 3, in this work, 
there is this remarkable passage : — 

" This is incontrovertlbly true. Through the 
' animal and vegetable kingdoms, Nature has 
' scattered the seeds of life abroad, with the most 
' profuse and liberal hand ; but has been compar- 
' atively sparing in the room and the nourish- 
' ment necessary to rear them." 

In the proposition thus laid down, and which 
the understandings of men arc called upon to re- 
ceive and to hold u]) as an axiom, the author as- 
serts the existence of a great and most formida- 
ble law of nature, bearing with irresistible force 
against the physical well-being of mankind. In 
one short sentence he calls in question and con- 
demns the arrangement and i)rovldcnce of (:>od. 
A slight exiunlnalion, however, of tlie f^entcncc 
Itself, will lead to a jierception of its entire false- 
ness, lie asserts that throughout the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, a prlnei|)le of vast prolifica- 
cy prevails. Thus, at the same time tJiat he ar- 
gues upon the i>rolilic nature of man, he argues 
also upon the prolific nature of the matter 
which lias been created for the sustenance of 
man, namely, tiie animal and vegetable king- 
doms. If, therefore, the principle of tiie increase 
of the latter be of equal power witii tlie principle 
of tiie Increase of tiie former, the argument of 
deficiency will fail, and then the only portion of 

• Thesp figures are copit'd rrmii the publislied report of the 
riocii'diiigs of the Statistical Society : but there appears to 
be H cunsiderable uriot in the calculation. The aunexed ta- 
1 bl« uliows the product to be mnch greater. 



Malthus's Theory of Population. 



S7 



tlie proposition which remains will be that of 
' room ;' and every person must see that it would 
be mere trifling to enter upon an argument re- 
specting this. With regard to the assertion of 
deficiency, I propose to show, by means of his own 
work, that the conclusion is wholly unwarranted. 

The matter contained in the eleven pages suc- 
ceeding my last quotation is put together in order 
to support the conclusion, but is of a character 
the most vague and inconclusive. We may col- 
lect from other parts of the works of this writer, 
that, as he proceeded on his investigations, and 
was thus necessarily obliged to enter upon the 
construction and examination of compound and 
complicated propositions, the duty of proving be- 
came to him a matter of insupportable difficulty, 
and hence, undoubtedly, arose the hurried and un- 
reasoning manner in which he has emerged from 
the obstacles which here surrounded him, in order 
that he might fabricate and adopt the two princi- 
ples which he had intended should form the 
guides of his subsequent calculations. At page 
14 he draws his conclusion by the following pas- 
sage : — 

" It may fairly be pronounced, therefore, that, 
' considering the present average state of the 
' earth, the means of subsistence, under circum- 
' stances the most favorable to human industry, 
' could not possibly be made to increase faster 
' than in an arithmetical ratio." 

It now becomes necessary to examine the na- 
ture of the arithmetical ratio here assigned as a 
law of the formation of capital, in order to find 
out whether or not it coincides with a well-known 
and universally recognised state of facts. At page 
18, the two rates of increase are thus exhibited. 
" The human species would increase as the num- 
« bers 1—2—4—8—16—32—64—128—256, and 
' subsistence as 1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9." 

To put the latter of these rates of progression 
to the test, I will commence the first issue at the 
period of time taken by Mr. Hallam, previously 
alluded to, namely, the year 1086. 



Cycles of years 



1096 to 


1111 


1111 


1136 


1136 


1161 


1161 


1186 


118G 


1211 


1211 


1236 


1236 


1261 


1261 


1286 


1286 


1311 


1311 


1336 


1336 


1361 


1361 


1386 


1386 


1411 


1411 


1436 


1436 


1461 


1461 


1486 


1486 


1511 


1511 


15.56 


1536 


1561 


1561 


1586 


1586 


1611 


1611 


1636 


1636 


1661 


1661 


1686 


1686 


1711 


1711 


1736 


1736 


1761 


1761 


1786 


1786 


1811 


181 X 


1836 



No. of 
Cycles 



9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
U 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 

30 



Increase 

per cent, during 

eacli Cycle. 



£. 

100 
50 
33 
25 
20 
16 
14 
12 
11 
10 



13 

2 
13 

17 
11 
5 

15 
10 
6 
3 

17 
14 
11 



10 

10 
4 

8 
1 
3 

3 

10 

11 
4 





Av. Increase 
per cent per ana. 
dur. each Cycle. 



The preceding table will show the rate of in- 
crease assignable to the formation of capital, under 
the arithmetical progression during each succeed- 
ing cycle of twenty-five years, and also annually 
up to the year 1836, regard not being had to the 
fractions of pence. 

Thus the result of this rate of calculation, 
shows, that on commencing the hypothetical ar- 
gument at tlie year 1086, the power of forming 
capital in the year 183G, would have been reduced 
to the diminutive proportion of l-750th of every 
100 parts, or 2s. Qd. per cent, per annum; and 
whetlier we apply the principle to the space of 
time above-mentioned, or to any other, it will be 
found equally remote from truth. New with re- 
gard to the increase derivable from the employ- 
ment of capital, it is a recorded and also a well- 
known fact, that the proportion of l-25th, or 4 
per cent, per annum, has been for a long series of 
years, and still is (taking a general average) easily 
obtainable, merely for the privilege of using it, 
leaving out of consideration the still larger in- 
crease obtauied by those who work it most 
profitably. 

Thus we are necessitated by the facts now col- 
lated, to reverse the geometrical and the arithme- 
tical ratios, and to assert that the former is more 
nearly applicable to the laws of the formation of 
capital, and the latter to the laws of the increase 
of population ; for, with regard to the principle of 
the increase of population, if the number 1,000,000 
be taken as the hypothesis, and the issues from it 
made to commence in the year 1086, and the 
arithmetical ratio of progression applied to them, 
the result will be a population of 30,000,000 in 
the year 1836. Now this we know to be more 
than double what the number really is, allusion 
being made to England only. P"t m the front 
of such a course of argument, a most formidable 
obiection is forced upon the attention, namely, if 
such be the truth, whc.rce could possibly arise des- 
titution and poverty, whicli are, confessedly a 
state of facts wWein tJie aggregate of popula- 
tion exceeds Che aggregate of capital, or the 
means of supi^iting it ? This question presents 
matte ^•Ji" ** most grave and careful investigation, 
ijud t/iough involved at present in almost total 
obscurity, is nevertheless capable of an entire and 
clear explication ; but, as my object here is that 
of demonstrating error, I am constrained jto re- 
serve the elucidation of this part of the subject 
for the matter of my second argument. I con- 
tent myself at present, therefore, with quoting tho 
observations of Mr. Hallam given in his commu- 
nication to the Statistical Society before al- 
luded to. 

" When he compared the enormous expansion 
' of the logarithmic curve with the petty 14,000,- 
' 000 of which we have to boast as our real num- 
' bers, he was led to think that there is still a 
' great deal on the subject of population unex- 
' plored, and that the counieracting causes which 
' have in ages past so retarded the development 
' of this prodigious force, as, numerically speak- 
' Lno-, to have reduced its actual efficacy almost 
' to" nothing, are deserving of the most serious 
' and diligent investigation." 

I now submit that I have proved how entirely 
this author has failed to substantiate either predi- 
cate of his two great propositions ; and I cannot 



33 



Polit'jnl Economy. 



avoid expressing the utmost astonishmenf that 
the geometrical and arithmetical ratios of increase 
■which were promulgated by him as theories, 
should have been received with any portion of 
credence, either by statesmen or statisticians. 

There is one more suggestion which I feel 
called upon to offer respecting tliis particular view 
of the subject, which is, that no writer is war- 
ranted in treating at all on the laws of the in- 
crease of population, who cannot, in tlic first in- 
stance, make himself master of tlie laws of the 
formation of capital. 

Before I conclude this comment upon the ex- 
traordinary error of calculation whicli Malthus 
has tlius admitted, I wish to draw attention, in a 
more particular manner, to the source of this 
error. Of his large work on the "Principle of 
Population," about 700 pages, or nearly half, are 
occupied by statistical compilations, showing the 
POSSIBLE rate of increase of the human species, 
the facts having been collected from various coun- 
tries. The conclusion, as I have before stated, is 
indisputable, and indeed is so simple and obvious, 
that it might have been conceded at once, and 
thue have rendered unnecessary a vast parade 
of statistical matter. The premises being thus 
granted, the fact is established, that there is in 
the natm-e of man a generative power adequate 
to the doubling his species in a space of twenty- 
five years. The author has tlien proceeded to 
argue upon the fact of the exercise of tliis gene- 
rative force to a degree beyond the means pro- 
vided by the Creator for its support. In thus 
arguing upon the possihle facts respecting the 
first principle instanced, he has neglected to as- 
certain the truth of the actual facts ; while with 
regard to il^e second principle, he has failed to as- 
certain the truih both of the possible and the ac- 
tual. His mmd appears to have been so fully 
possessed by his expansive principle of popula- 
tion, that he paid no regard to u very high and 
important element ol Kis subject, wliich is, tliat 
the nature of man differs essentially from the na- 
ture of brutes. Had he bionght into his con- 
sideration the spiritual or moral attril^ute of man 
and reasoned upon its influence, he woiud ivave 
been led into another train of argument. But 
viewing the two great facts, the one at the com- 
mencement, the other at the extremity of liis 
observation, the first being the prolific character 
of the principle of population, and the last the 
destitute condition of a great part of mankind, 
he has disregarded all intervening influences and 
facts, and adopted the false conclusion that desti- 
tution is to be attributed to the exercise of the 
proUfic principle of population. 

Upon continuing mj investigation of the work 
now under consideration, I find that the autlior, 
having adopted into his course of reasoning the 
two principles of progression wliich I have just 
examined, and being necessitated, ou many occa- 
Bions, to work out his premises by tlieir strict in- 
ductions, lias, by so doijig, brougJit liis train of 
argument into collision with another train, whieli 
a self-evident state of facts enforces the recogni- 
tion of. Thus his course of argument presents 
an alternating assignment of cause, for Ihe bring, 
ing about an imilbrni and an accredited ellcct. 
Now the effect or defect to be accounted for is, 
the absence of sufRQicncj-, or the physical desti- 



tution of a great portion of mankind. The ques- 
tion then is, whence arises this ? Now as to the 
means : these consist of an immense and an in- 
calculable variety of matter furnished by the 
power of a divine and beneficent Creator. This 
■on the one side : on the other, man cannot create ; 
but bj'' his labor and his intelligence he can modi- 
fy and appropriate the matter given. The mate- 
rial fund, therefore, though passive or submissive, 
is yet endued with the capability of being con- 
verted, by the active instrumentality of human 
power, into a vast variety of sustenantial, useful, 
and agreeable modifications. Thus there are in 
operation two distinct agencies, the one creative 
— the other appropriative. 

Now the view taken by Malthus of this inter- 
csting and important subject has, most unhap- 
pily, led him to the inference of defective crea- 
tion ; hence his principle of the greatly-restrained 
power of fonning capital as ordained by natural 
law, which asserted Umitation he has attempted 
the explication of, by means of the arithmetical 
ratio of increase ; and as corollaries on this prin- 
ciple, he is necessitated to assign as causes of the 
evil, that which he denominates " the inevitable 
laws of nature ; " and then follow his frequent at- 
tempts to rescue from censure human institutions 
and human government. 

Having shown how entirely destitute of solidity 
the line of argument is, whereby he has attempted 
to prove deficient provision, I will now advert to 
the many and remarkable admissions wliich his 
work contains, on the side of wrong or defective 
appropriation. These abound in almost every 
part of the 3rd and 4th books. In the 3rd book 
and the Gtli chapter, page 347, there occurs a re- 
markable passage, which treats of the ill effect 
produced on capital by the employment of the 
destitute poor on manufactures ; and also another, 
the tendency of which is to establish the general 
ill eflect of competition : they are as follows : 

" The attempts to employ the poor on any great 
' scale in manufactures, have almost invariably 
' failed, and the stock and materials have been 
' wasted. In those few parishes which, by better 
' management or larger funds, have been enabled 
' to persevere in this system, the effect of these 
' n'-w manufactures in the market must have 
'''^en to throw out of -employment many inde- 
' pendent workmen, who were before engaged in 
' fabrications of a similar nature. This effect 
' has been placed in a strong point of view, by 
' Daniel de Fot, in an address to Parliament, cn- 
' titled, ' Giving Mms no Charity.' Speaking 
' of the employmeni of parish children in manu- 
' factures, he says, ' /-W rvcn/ tikriu of worsted 
' ' these poor children spin, ih'ne must be n skein 
' ' the less spun hi/ some poor family that spun 
' 'it he/ore; and Jor every piece of haize so viade 
' ' in London, there 7nust he a piore the less 
' 'made at Colchester, or somewhere tLsi.' Sir 
' F. M. Eden, on the same subject, observes that 
' ' whether mops and brooms arc made by parish 
• ' children or b}' jirivatc workmen, no more can 
' 'be sold than the ])ublic is in want of.'" 

" It will be said, perhaps, that the same rcason- 
' ing migjit be aj)plied to any new capital brought 
' into competition in a particular trade or manu- 
' factme, which can rarely be done without in- 
' juring, in some degree, those that were engaged 



Malthus on the Causes of tfestttution. 



m 



' in it before. But there is a material difference 
' in the two cases. In this the competition is 
' perfectly fair, and what every man on entering 
' into business must lay his account to." 

It will be evident that the matter of the above 
quotations is in the highest degree important, as 
bearing directly upon the great principle involved 
in the whole inquiry. Attention should be par- 
ticularly directed to the false mode here resorted 
to for turning aside the effects of an evil admit- 
ted. The writer says, that in one case, the pro- 
ceeding is " perfectly fair," and that the result 
might have been expected. But the question 
which he had to deal with and to decide was the 
exact nature of the facts : simply, whether by the 
course of competition adduced, the arrangement 
of facts would be injurious or beneficial to the 
general capital. If injurious, that laws should 
be framed for the pm-pose of restraining the cause 
as much as possible; if beneficial, that no re- 
straint of law should be permitted. 

Again, in the 7th chapter of the same book, 
he asserts, that the subject is surrounded on all 
sides by the most formidable difficulties ; and he 
re-admits the ill effects of competition. Thus at 
page 355 : 

" The whole subject is surrounded on all sides 
' by the most formidable difficulties ; and in no 
' state of things is it so necessary to recollect the 
' saying of Daniel de Foe, quoted in the last 
' chapter. The manufacturers all over the coun- 
' try, and the Spitalfields' weavers in particular, 
' are in a state of the deepest distress, occasioned 
' immediately and directly by the want of demand 
' for the produce of their industry, and the cbn- 
' sequent necessity felt by tlie masters of turning 
' off many of their workmen, in order to proper- 
' tion the supply to the contracted demand. It 
' is proposed, however, by some weU-meaning 
' people, to raise by subscription a fund for the 
' express purpose of setting to work again those 
' who have been turned off by their masters, the 
' effect of which can only be to continue glutting 
' a market, already much too fully supplied. This 
' is most naturally and justly objected to by the 
' masters, as it prevents them from withdrawing 
' the supply, and taldng the only course which 
' can prevent the total destruction of their capitals, 
' and the necessity of turning off all tlieir men 
' instead of a part." 

Again, in the same chapter, page 360 , — 

" On the subject of the distresses of tlie poor, 
' and particularly the increase of pauperism of 
' late years, the most erroneous opinions liave been 
' circulated. During the progress of the war, the 
' increase in the proportion of persons requi- 
' ring parish assistance, was attributed chiefly to 
' the high price of the necessaries of life. We 
' have seen these necessaries of life experience a 
' great and sudden fall, and yet at the same time, 
' a still larger proportion of the population requi- 
' ring parish assistance." 

Again, at page 365 : — 

" The principal causes of the increase of pau- 
' perism, independently of the present crisis, are^ 
' fust, the general increase of the manufacturing 
' system, and the unavoidable variations of man- 
' ufacturing labor." 

Again, in the 8th chapter, page 392 :— 

♦' In a country where the wages of labor esti- 



' mated in food are low, and that food is relative- 
ly of a very low value, both with regard to do- 
' mestic and foreign manufactures, the condition 
' of the laboring classes of society must be the 
' worst possible^" 

And, in the next page, speaking of Poland : — 

" Yet here corn is in abundance, and great 
' quantities of it are yearly exported. But it 
' appears clearly, that it is not either the power 
' of the country to produce food, or even what it 
' actually produces, that limits and regulates the 
' progress of population, but the quantity which 
' in the actual state of things is awarded to the 
' laborer, and the rate at which the funds so an. 
' propriated increase." 

" In the present case the demand for labor is 
' very small, and though the population is incon- 
' siderable, it is greater than the scanty capital of 
' the country can fully employ ; the condition of 
' the laborer, therefore, is depressed by his being 
' able to command only such a quantity of food 
' as will maintain a stationary or very slowly in- 
' creasing population. It is further depressed by 
' the low relative value of the food which he earns, 
' which gives to any surplus he may possess, a 
' very small power in the purchase of manufac- 
' tured commodities or foreign produce. 

" Under these circumstances, we cannot be sur- 
' prised that all accounts of Poland should reprc- 
' sent the condition of the lower classes of soci- 
' ety as extremely miserable ; and the other parts 
' of Europe, which resemble Poland in the state 
' of their land and capital, resemble it in the con- 
' dition of their people. 

" In justice, however, to the agricultural sys- 
' tem, it should be observed that the premature 
' check to the capital, and the demand for labor 
' which occurs in some of the countries of Eu- 
' rope, while land continues in considerable plen- 
' ty, is not occasioned by the particular direction 
' of their industry, but by the vices of the govern- 
' ment and the structure of the society, which 
' prevent its full and fair development in that di- 
' rection." 

In the quotations just made it is clearly and 
fully admitted that the entire virtue of the sub. 
ject is concentred in the question of the appropri- 
ation of matter by the labor of man. No allu- 
sion whatever is here made to the original and ap- 
palling conclusion of the author, namely, that by 
the law of nature, the principle of the expansion 
of subsistence is not sufficiently large for the 
principle of the expansion of population. The 
evil is here attributed to tlie misappropriation of 
matter, or, the wrong direction of labor. 

Again, also, at the commencement of the 9th 
chapter of the same book, he sets down as causes 
of the evil deplored, the difficulty of confining 
improvements in machinery — the frequent chan- 
ges that occur in the channels of trade — the in- 
jury sustained by capital by means of foreign 
competition, added to which, that domestic com- 
petition produces similar effects. I will now 
quote these passages : — 

" A country which excels in commerce and 
' manufactures, may purchase com from a variety 
' of others ; and it may be supposed, perhaps, that, 
' proceeding upon this system, it may continue to 
' purchase an increasing quantity, and to main- 
' tain a rapidly increasing population, till thQ 



40 



Political j^conomy. 



' lands of all the nations with which it trades are 
« fully cultivated. As this is an event necessari- 
' ly at a ^eat distance, it may appear that the 
' population of such a country will not be checked 
' from the difficulty of procuring subsistence till 
' after the lapse of a great number of ages. 

" There are, however, causes constantly in op- 
' eration, which will occasion the pressure of tliis 
' difficulty, long before the event here conlempla- 

* ted has taken place, and while the means of 
' raising food in the surrounding countries may 
' still be comparatively abundant. 

" In the first place, advantages which depend ex- 
' clusively upon capital and skill, and the present 
' possession of particular channels of commerce, 
' cannot in their nature be permanent. We know 
' how difficult it is to confine improvements in ma- 
' chinery to a single spot; we know that it is the 
' constant object, both of individuals and countries, 
' to increase their capital ; and we know, from the 
' past history of commercial states, that the ehan- 
' nels of trade are not unfrequently taking a dif- 

* ferent direction. It is unreasonable therefore to 
' expect that any one country, merely by the 
' force of skill and capital, should remain in pos- 
' session of markets, iminterrupted by foreign 
' competition. But, when a powerful foreign 
' competition takes place, the exportable commod- 
' ities of the country in question must soon fall to 
' prices, which will essentially reduce profits ; 
' and the fall of profits will diminish both the 
' power and the vnU to save. Under tliese cir- 
' cumstances the accumulation of capital will be 
' slow, and the demand for labor proportion ably 
' slow, till it comes nearly to a stand ; while, per- 
' haps, the new competitors, either by raising their 

* own raw materials or by some other advantages, 
' may stiU be increasing their capitals and popu- 
' lation with some degree of rapidity. 

" But, secondly, even if it were possible for a 
' considerable time to exclude any formidable 
' foreign competition, it is found that domes- 
« tic competition produces almost unavoidably 
' the same effect. If a macliine be invented in a 
' particular country, by the aid of which one 
' man can do the work of ten, t.hc possessors of 
' it will of course at first make very unusual pro- 
' fits ; but, as soon as the invention is generally 
' known, so much capital and industry will be 
' brought into tliis new and profitable employ- 
' ment, as to make its products greatly exceed I 
' both tlie foreign and domestic demand at the ' 
' old prices. These prices, therefore, will contin- 
• ue to fall, till the stock and labor employed in 
' this direction ceas(!S to yield unusual profits. 
' In this case it is evident that, though in an car- 
' ly period of such a manufacture, the ])roduct of 
' the industry of one man for a day might liuve 
' been exchanged for such a portion of food as 
' would support forty or fifty persons ; yet, at a 
' subsequent period, tiic product of the same in- 
' dustry might not purcliasc tiio support of 
' ' ten.' " 

Again, in the same chapter, ])agc 41G, wlien 
treating of the cause of the decline of the. trade 
of Holland, he asserts it to have been doiiieslic 
comjietition ; and tliwi, in alluding U> liiosc; 
branches of commerce which had" retained their 
former vigor, he ascribes it to their being indi.'. 
pendent of foreign power and corapclitiou, wliile 



just after, there occurs the following passage in a 
note : — 

" It is a curious fact, that among the causes 
' of the dechne of the Dutch trade. Sir WilUam 
' Temple reckons the cheapness of corn, which, 
' he says, has been for these dozen years, or more, 
' general in these parts of Europe. This cheap- 
' ness, he says, impeded the vent of spices and 
' other Indian commodities among the Baltic na- 
' tions, by diminishing their power of purcha- 
' sing." 

Again, in the same book and the 12th chapter, 
when treating on the Com Laws, and adverting 
to the exhaustion of the fertility of land, he re- 
marks that, " The British Isles show at present 
' no symptoms whatever of this species of ex- 
' haustion ;" and in the next page he adds, that, 
" when we consider what has actually been done 
' in some of the districts of England and Scot- 
' land, and compare it with what remains to be 
' done in other districts, we must allow that no 
' near approach to this limit has yet been made." 
I will now quote from the 13th chapter of the 
same book, passages establishing the fact of mis- 
appropriation or want of proper regulation of com- 
merce : — 

" In the natural and regular progress of a coun- 
' try to a state of great wealth and population, 
' there are two disadvantages to which the lower 
' classes of society seem necessarily to be subject- 
' cd. The first is, a diminished power of support- 
' ing children under the existing habits of the so- 
' ciety with respect to the necessaries of hfe. And 
' the second, the employment of a larger propor- 
' tion of the population in occupations less favor- 
' able to health, and more exposed to fluctuations 
' of demand and unsteachness of wages. 

" The second disadvantage to which the low- 
' est classes of society are subjected in the pro- 
' gressive increase of wealth is, that a larger por- 
' tlon of them is engaged in unhealthy occupa- 
' tions, and in employments in which the wages 
' of labor arc exposed to much greater fluctuations 
' than in agriculture, and the simpler kinds of 
' domestic trade. 

" In addition to the fluctuations arising from 
' the changes from peace to war, and from war to 
' peace. It is well known how subject particular 
' manufactures are to fail from the caprices of 
' taste. The weavers of Spitalfields were plunged 
' into the most severe distress by the fashion of 
' mushns instead of silks ; and great numbers of 
1 ' workmen, in Sheffield and Birmingham, were, 
' for a time, thrown out of employment, owing to 
' the adoption of shoe-strings and covered buttons. 
' instead of l.uckles :md metal buttons. Our 
' manufactures, taken in the mass, have increased 
' with i)rodigions ra])idity, but in particular places 
' they have fai\cd ; nndthc ])arlsh('s where this 
' lias happened are invariably loaded with a crowd 
' of poor, In the most disircssed and miserable 
' condition." 

In the 1 Itli eluiptor of the same book," It has 
' been obs(!rvi'd that many countries, at the pc- 
' riod of their greatest degree of populousiicss, 
' liave lived in the greatest degree of plenty, and 
' liave been able to export corn ; but, at oUier 
' periods, when their population was very low, 
' liave lived in continual (Kjverty and wtmt, and 
' have been obliged to ijnport corn. Egypt, Pal- 



Malthus on the Right of the Poor to Subsistence. 



41 



' estine, Rome, Sicily and Spain, are cited as 
' particular exemplifications of this fact." 

" In the numerous instances of depopulation 
' which occur in history, the cause may always 
' be traced to the want of industry, or the ill-di- 
' rection of that industry, arising from violence, 
' bad government, ignorance, &c, which first oc- 
' casion a want of food, and, of course, depopu- 
' lation follows. When Rome adopted the cus- 
' torn of importing all her corn, and laying all 
' Italy into pasture, she soon declined in popula- 
' tion. The causes of the depopulation of Egypt 
' and Turkey have already been adverted to ; and, 
' in the case of Spain, it was certainly not the 
' nximerical loss of people occasioned by the ex- 
' pulsion of the Moors, but the industry and cdp- 
' ital thus expelled, which permanently injured 
' her population." 

In the same chapter, page 57, there occurs the 
following passage, replete with important mat- 
ter : — " The fact is, that, as no country has ever 
' reached, or probably ever wiU reach, its highest 
' possible acme of produce, it appears always as 
' if the want of industry, or the ill direction of 
' that industry, was the actual limit to a further 
' increase of produce and population, and not the 
' absolute refusal of nature to yield any more." 

Again, in the 4th book, and 4th chapter, page 
117 : — " I can easily conceive that this country, 
' with a proper direction of the national industry, 
' might, in the course of some centuries, contain 
' two or three times its present population, and 
' yet every man in the kingdorii be much better 
' fed and clothed than he is at present." 

I should adduce many more passages of simi- 
lar import to those now quoted, if I did not feel 
certain that these are in their nature so strong as 
to destroy all doubt of the quarter whence the 
great evil, whose course we are tracing, derives 
its origin, namely, in the 7nisappropriation hy 
man of the matter furnished for him : and it will 
be allowed by every reflecting and logical rea- 
soner, that it would be entirely out of course to 
argue upon, or even to make allusion to, deficient 
provision, until we shall, in the first instance, 
have estal)lished the proof of perfect appropria- 
tion. 

After perusing the foregoing passages, and 
then bringing the mmd to weigh well the entire 
matter of evidence which the works contain, it 
is with the utmost astonishment that I find the 
author adopting conclusions miputing the social 
disorganization of man to the laws of moral and 
physical necessity. Thas," in the 3d book, and 
2d chapter, page 268 : — 

" And thus it appears that a society, constitu- 
' ted according to the most beautiful form that 
' imagination can conceive, with benevolence for 
' its moving principle instead of self-love, and 
' with every evil disposition in all its members 
' corrected by reason, not force, would, from the 
' INEVITABLE laws of nature, and not from any 
' fault in human institutions, degenerate, in a 

* very short period, into a society constructed 
' upon a plan not essentially different from that 
' which prevails in every known state at present 
' — a society divided into a class of proprietors 
' and a class of laborers, and with self-love for the 

♦ main-spring of the great machine." 

And again, in the 4th book, and the 6th chap- 



ter, when treating on the natural rights of man, 
there is the following passage : — 

" What these rights are, it is not my business at 
' present to explain ; but there is one right which 
' man has generally been thought to possess, 
' which I am confident he neither does nor can 
' possess — a right to subsistence when his labor 
' will not fairly purchase it. Our laws indeed say 
' that he has this right, and bind the society to 
' furnish employment and food to those wlio can- 
' not get them in the regular market ; but, in so 
' doing, they atteinpt to reverse the laws of na- 
' ture, and it is in consequence to be expected, 
' not only that they should fail in their object, but 
' that the poor, who were intended to be ben- 
' eflted, should suffer most cruelly from the inhu- 
' man deceit practised upon them." 

The two passages just adduced, contain matter 
of as much importance to the moral and physical 
state of the human race as the mind of man can 
conceive. In the last, wherein all provision is 
denied to those who cannot find demand for their 
labor, the author declares that he is confident in 
the judgement which he pronounces. Now I 
have shown, by the foregoing series of evidence, 
that the entire train of his reasoning is defect- 
ive. I have instanced repeated admissions from 
himself, that he advances, in his attempts to elu- 
cidate the science, amidst a mass of difficulties, 
perplexities, and doubts. Notwithstanding which, 
he declares that he is confident in ih.e truth of the 
great, the all-important, and the appalling conclu- 
sion which he here promulgates. If I had no 
other evidence to adduce against such a conclu- 
sion than one passage in his own works, yet this 
one alone would be amply sufficient for annulling 
it. It is in that part of his work on Political 
Economy, which I have before quoted, where, 
amidst a number of important propositions ad- 
mitted to be unelucidated, this one occurs, " The 
causes which determine the wages of labor." If 
he has not been able to find out the causes which 
determine the wages of labor, it is evident that 
he cannot have found out that man has no right 
to subsist if his labor will not purchase it. 

To try the proposition by another argument! — 
Subsistence — the right to enjoy which in the ab- 
sence of certain circumstances is by this judge, 
ment denied — is affected by the greater or smaller 
amount of exchangeable commodities which is 
circulated or diffused among a community of peo- 
ple. These commodities are all comprised under 
the general term, capital. Now upon no other 
subject whatever has so much distraction prevail- 
ed in the counsels, and so much contrariety in 
the enactments of states, as upon the laws for the 
formation of capital. With regard to them two 
opposite theories have been and are, up to the 
present moment, held. The one attributes the 
quicker formation of capital to restricted or regu- 
lated production, whereby the members of a given 
community are confined, in a greater degree than 
they would freely or naturally consent to be, to 
the consumption or demand of commodities 
wrought by the labor of members of their own 
community. 

By the other, which is called the " free" theory, 
it is alleged that such policy places an injudicious 
resti'aint upon the efforts of industry, and is pre- 
ventive of the growth of capital ; and as an an- 



42 



Political Economy. 



tagonist principle, the supremacy, in all 'nf.xices, 
of the Belf-directing impulse is mainteiinud in it,. 
■wliich urges each member to develop, to the ut- 
most of his power, the material things of crea- 
tion, and, disregarding all pre\dous divisions of 
labor and the established exchange of commodi- 
ties, to leave off demanding or consuming the 
productions of others, just as his own interest or 
will shall impel him. From such a course of 
self-impelled action is inferred the greatest amount 
of social good ; or, the largest accmnulation of 
things necessary, convenient, and luxurious. 

Of these two opposing theories, it must neces- 
sarily be that one is false. The policy of this 
country during many centuries had been in 
accordance with the former. Of late years, 
however, the principle from which it derived its 
origin has been so violently assailed as to bring 
about a most important relaxation of the ancient- 
ly-recognised rule of commercial action. Regu- 
lating laws having been abrogated, freedom has 
been permitted, inducing competition and chan- 
ges in the employment of capital to a degree 
heretofore unknown. If the former of these the- 
ories should be untrue, in tliat case the paucity 
of capital must be attributed to the cause which 
has often been alluded to in the work now under 
examination, namely, the ill direction of indus- 
iry, brought about by the operation of erroneous 
legislation ; and it would be wholly unwarrantable 
to argue against the right of possessors of unde- 
manded labor to subsistence, until such errone- 
Gus legislation had been amended, and time al- 
lowed for the reparation of all its injurious re- 
sults. Although much diminished, yet at pre- 
sent a vast portion of the restrictive laws arc in 
force, as for instance, the most important of all, 
the corn laws. Tliis argument has been partial- 
ly noticed by the author of the proposition I am 
now trying, in tlie 3d book and the 12tli chapter, 
and his observations respecting it are, " this is 
unquestionably a powerful argument ;" and then 
he adds a paragraph in parenthesis which, as is 
customary with him, throws the whole subject 
back into its original obscurity, for he says, 
" granting fully the premises, which, however, 
may admit of some doubt." 

On the other hand, if tlic theory of restricted 
or regulated production be true, and the antago- 
nist principle of free trade or uncontrolled con- 
sumption and competition be untrue, in that case 
the paucity of capital must be a consequence of 
the great latitude permitted to the selfisii impul- 
ees of human desires, which evince tiiem.nelves in 
every quarter. But on which side soever of the 
argument tlie advocates for the authority of this 
author should clioosc to rest tlie case, still, the 
evidt'nce aflbrded, would be destructive of the 
judgement pronounced ; because, as of two theo- 
ries adduced, neither of them has ever been per- 
mitted in practice to perform its full and ])crfect 
operation, so it follows, that the demand for jalwr 
can at no ])eriod liave been so justly pn)j)ortioned 
to the supply, as the laws of nature admit, and, 
consequently, labor never can have received its 
just remuneration. 

Again : — 

Tlie case adduced is that of a vast portion 
of mankind being in the almost destitute con- 
dition in which the species is found previous 



to any advance in civiUzation having been made, 
or the division of emplojonent, and consequently, 
the exchange of commodities having sprung up ; 
but with the circumstances against these unhap- 
py members, aggravated to the extreme degree 
of human endurance ; for in their case, the use 
of all the animal and vegetable materials which 
are adapted for sustaining life, and which are 
placed within reach of appropriation by man in 
his uncivilized state, is wholly interdicted. If 
we suppose the case of agricultural production, 
here recourse to unappropriated land is not per- 
mitted ; it is reserved for those who may hereof- 
ter be ricJi enough to demand its productions. — 
Likewise of all animal nourishment that is found 
in the fields, the woods, and the waters. Also 
of every other kind of matter that can conduce 
to the subsistence or comfort of man. These are 
all decreed, by the selfish usages of wrongly 
civilized life, to be for the sport or the luxurious 
indulgence of those who adready possess abund- 
ance. In such a state of conventional regula- 
tion, those of mankind who occupy the lowest 
grade in their respective communities can only 
procure subsistence by offering their labor for 
hire. To this offer the reply is, capital is defi- 
cient ; and as to deficient capital, I submit that I 
have shown that it cannot be assigned to any 
other cause than defective appropriation. 

How unjust and horrid, then, is the attempt of 
this writer to cast upon the Creator the responsi- 
bility of the derangements thus made by the crea- 
ture, which occurs so often in his general argu- 
ment, and which is strongly set forth in the fol- 
lowing passage taken from the 4th book and tlie 
8th chapter : — 

" After the public notice which I have proposed 
' had been given, and the system of poor laws 
' had ceased with regard to the rising generation, 
' if any man chose to marry without a prospect of 
' being able to support a family, he should have 
' the most perfect hberty to do so. Tliough to 
' marry, in this case, is, in my opinion, clearly 
' an immoral act, yet it is not one which society 
' can justly take upon itself to prevent or punish ; 
' because the punishment provided for it by the 
' laws of Nature faUs directly and most severely 
' upon the individual who conimits the act, and 
' through liim, only more remotely and feebly, on 
' the society. Wiien Nature will govern and pun- 
' ish for us, it is a verj' miserable ambition to wish 
' to snatch the rod from her hands, and draw 
' upon ourselves tli^ odium of executioner. To 
' the ])nuishinenl, therefore, of Nature, he sliould 
' be left, the punisliment of want. He has erred 
' in the face of a most clear and precise warning, 
' and can have no just reason to complain of any 
' person but himself when lie feels the conscquen- 
' CCS of his error. All parish assistance should 
' be denied him ; and he should be left to the un- 
' certain sujiport of private charity. He should 
' be taught to know that the laws of Nature, which 
' are the laws of God, liad doomed him and his 
' family to suffer for disol)eying their rcpeateil ad- 
' monitions ; tiiat he liad no claim of right on so- 
' ciety for the smallest portion of food beyond 
' that which his labor would fairly purcha.se ; and 
' that if he and liis family were saved from feel- 
' ing the natural consequences of his imprudence, 
' lie wouUl owe it to the pity of some kind bene- 



Malthus on the Causes of Desiitulion. 



43 



' factor, to whom, therefore, he ought to be bound 
• by the strongest ties of gratitude." 

The declaration — " he should be taught to 
know that the laws of Natui'e are the laws of 
God," opens up matter of the most extensive and 
awml import. It might be supposed that the au- 
thor's observation had never been attracted by 
the fact of the fallen, ignorant, and depraved na- 
ture of man. The general subject-matter of 
which he has undertaken to treat is that of the 
laws made by man in his capacity of legislator, 
and of the still wider range of those actions of 
man which occur out of or beyond the sphere of 
legislative control or coercion. Before setting 
down his conclusion or connecting his facts with 
the agency of God, he was bound to show that 
the laws of man have been framed, in every in- 
stance, in accordance with justice, or the perfect 
law of God ; and, moreover, that all social action 
or the general dealing of mankind has been of a 
similar character of justice, purity, and truth. — 
Had he succeeded in showing this, then his great 
declarative proposition, " the laws of Nature are 
the laws of God," would have been apposite. 
Now it has been my duty to show how signally 
the author has failed in all his attempts to eluci- 
date the subject-matter alluded to, and moreover, 
that in repeated instances we find upon record his 
own admissions of failm-e. In addition to this 
evidence of a negative character, we have, on 
the face of the same record, admissions of a posi- 
tive character likewise, such as, that labor is fre- 
quently thrown out of employment by changes 
in fashion — by the substitution for it of mechani- 
cal power — by the productions of foreign labor 
being brought into competition with those of do- 
mestic labor — and also by home competition. — 
Now over all these extensive causes of rejection 
and degradation the laborer himself possesses no 
control, neither has he the power of foreseeing 
their advent. They are set in motion entirely by 
the taste, the caprice, and the ill-regulated or 
selfish desires of those members of the commu- 
nity who occupy more elevated positions than he, 
and it is on these agents, therefore, that the re- 
sponsibility of the derangements alone rests. And 
yet, notwithsteuiding the powerful and conclusive 
evidence thus put forward by the author himself, 
for the arrest of all judgement, or, I am warrant- 
ed in adding, for deciding in favor of tlie weaker 
party, he has incautiously and presumptiiously 
proceeded to occupy the judgement-seat of the 
most exalted One, and imder the usm-ped sanc- 
tion of the most sacred of names, has promulga- 
ted an edict which, if carried into effect, would 
consign a great portion of mankind to miserable 
and rapid destruction. Thus, I contend, that the 
great judgement by which the right of the desti- 
tute to subsistence has been denied, being wholly 
imsupported by evidence, must necessarily fall. 

It must excite surprise and great regret that 
Malthus should have delivered a judgement so 
unreasonable, unjust, and oppressive, and there is 
only one way of accounting for it that occm-s to 
me. His mind was occupied in investigating the 
great and important subject, at a period when the 
horrid power generated by a state of anarchy, 
was devastating the public institutions of France, 
and invading the security of domestic life. A 
state of social confusion in that country had call- 



ed forth many men endowed with energetic and 
powerful spirits who, by their writings, excited, 
in the first place, hatred against all known state 
abuses, and taking advantage of the passion thus 
aroused, they endeavored, in the next place, to un- 
dermine the foimdations of existing governments. 
Now Malthus entered the arena as an antagonist 
of these writers, but was wholly incapable of 
grappling with and destroying the main argu- 
ments of his adversaries. The powers of his 
mind were inadequate to the task of separating 
good from bad, consequently he was not able to 
uphold the one and to cast down the other. Fail- 
ing, therefore, to place on its right foundation the 
governmental principle of man, he was induced to 
seek safety by attempting to implicate the provi- 
dence of God. 

In confirmation of the line oLargument that I 
have advanced against the validity of his great 
judgement, I will refer to two passages in his 
" Principles of Political Economy." At the close 
of this work, in the 10th section of the 1st chap- 
ter, under the head of the " Progress of Wealth," 
he attempts to take a general or comprehensive 
survey of the subject, both in its theoretical and 
practical development. It will be apparent that 
if he had been able, in the course of his prece- 
ding investigations, to discover and to estabhsh a 
great general principle, it would here, more espe- 
cially, have been brought into action, and have 
served him as a guide in forming a correct judge- 
ment on the arguments and practical results, the 
collective evidence of which his mind was occu- 
pied on considering. The passage occurs at page 
418, and is as follows : — 

" With regard to these causes (alluding to the 
' causes of distress), such as the cultivation of 
' our poor soOs, our restiictions upon commerce, 
' and our weight of taxation, I find it very difficult 
' to admit a theory of our distresses so inconsist- 
' ent with the theory of our comparative prosper- 
' ity. While the greatest quantity of our poor 
' lands were in cultivation ; while there were more 
' than usual restrictions upon commerce ; and 
' very fittle corn was imported ; and while taxa- 
' tion was at its hight, the country confessedly 
' increased in wealth with a rapidity never known 
' before. Since some of our poorest lands have 
' been thrown out of cultivation ; since the peace 
' has removed many of our restrictions upon com- 
' merce, and, notwithstanding our corn laws, we 
' have imported a great quantity of corn ; and 
' since seventeen millions of taxes have been taken 
' off from the people, we have experienced the 
' greatest degree of distress, both among capital, 
' ists and laborers." 

Thus, upon remarking on the acknowledged 
rapid increase of capital or prosperity at one pe- 
riod, and then upon the declining rate of increase 
of capital or adversity at another, lie is necessita- 
ted, by the matter of fact, to assign the state of 
prosperity to a period when restrictions or regula- 
tions upon commerce existed to a greater degree ; 
and the state of adversity to a period when many 
restrictive regulations had been abolished, and 
much more freedom of commerce permitted. He 
contents himself, however, merely with directing 
attention to this state of facts in practice, which, 
in appearance, attaches confirmation to the as- 
serted theory of restricted or regulated commerce, 



44 



Political Economi/. 



and, by consequence, falsification to its antago- 
nist, or the theory of unregulated or free trade ; 
and having thus commented, he does not attempt 
to decide the question, but leaves the connection 
of causes and effects, though partially suggested, 
yet wholly untraced, while immediately suc- 
ceeding, at page 420 there occurs this remai-ka- 
ble passage : — 

" Altogether the state of tlie commercial world 
' since the war, clearly shows that SOME- 
' THING ELSE is necessary to the continued 
' increase of wealth besides an increase in the 
, means of producing." 

What this " something else," or great latent 
beneficial principle is, having failed to discover, 
he substituted for it matter by conjecture. This 
short passage is full of deeply interesting and im- 
portant meaning ; for, without doubt, in it is the 
opening which would lead to the- truth of the en- 
lire science, but which, hitherto, human investi- 
gation has not penetrated. 

The evidence which I have tlius adduced from 
the writings of Malthus, bearing upon the great 
question, of the comparative increase of popula- 
tion and capital, shows, that the implication con- 
tained in that question, which is adverse to the 
exercise of one of the dearest and most powerful 
affections inherent in the nature of man, is en- 
tirely without foundation. For, on whatever side 
the question be viewed, it is apparent, that the 
fact is not an excessive increase of people as com- 
pared with our POWER of procuring means or 
capital ; but that it is a deficient acquisition of 
means or capital, arising entirely from the ab- 
sence of a proper du-ection or regulation of the 

NATIONAL AVILL. 



ARGUMENT FIRST. 
Part III. 

As the defective and false character of the sci- 
entific evidence which is extant on the great sub- 
ject of general commerce has been shown by ni}' 
preceding investigations, it becomes, in the next 
place, a most important and interesting object to 
ascertain the nature of the jiractict/l evidence, or 
that bj' wliich the legislature has been Influenced 
in framing or altermg the commercial laws of the 
countrj'. In order to cflcct this purpose it will be 
obvious that the best method to be pursued, is 
tliat of entering upon a careful examination of 
the speeches of a leading practical statesman and 
member of Government, who has been chiefly 
instrumental in effecting changes in the commor- 
cial policy of the country. I allude to the 
speeches of Mr. Iluskisson. It might naturally 
be expected that there must be extant somewhere, 
a far better development of the subject tiian that 
which I have already brought mider notice, and 
that an examination of the practical treatment of 
this immense question, liy the inriuisitorial judrfe. 
ment of the legislature, will bring to light a far 
better state of knowledge. Such, however, is 
not the fact ; for the result establisiied by an 
examination of the legislatorial management 
and progress of the question, is of a character 
analogous to that whicli is afforded by the sci. 
cntific evidence already adduced. This I will 
now prove. 

Hetving carefully examined the proceedinga of 



the legislature, as contained in the speeches of 
Mr. Huskisson, I feel called upon to notice, in the 
first place, a most remarkable course of action 
which tlic advocates of the free principle were 
successful in getting adopted to a great extent, 
and which gave them a most important advan- 
tage over opposing advocates, but which, I shall 
contend, was a false and most unjust course. It 
appears then, that the ancient constitutional prin- 
ciple, — the forming regulations for the protection 
and encouragement of existing and growing in- 
terests — had, in many instances, been applied un- 
equally and greatly abused. Hence arose the in- 
troduction and the acceptation of the word " mo- . 
nopoly." By this term the misappUcations and 
abuses were intended to be characterized, and 
thus it became a word of odious import. Now 
the general ignorance which has prevailed, and 
which is stLU prevalent, respecting the science of 
Political Economy, prevented its various writers 
from discriminating between the true and the 
false in the science, so that when they brought 
the matters upon which thej' had been treating 
to a final judgement, they condenmcd alike the 
good and the bad ; or "rather, I am bound to go 
fuithcr, and to declare, that they generally con- 
demned truth and elevated falsehood, and upon 
such occasions the favorite term "monopoly" 
was introduced for the purpose of Avrapping up 
the judgement, of concealing whatever was faul- 
ty in it, and rendering it more suitable to the pub- 
lic taste. 

In this degraded state of general or national 
conviction, the various commercial laws or regu- 
lations of the state were brought under inspection 
and discussion, and then the following fatal rule 
was admitted, namely, that of assuming the poli- 
cy of any cited regulation to be false unless it 
should be proved to be true. This rule is express- 
ed by Mr. Huskisson, in a speech made on the 
12th February, 1824, in these words : — "It appcar- 
' ed to him, that from the moment that the jwlicy 
' of our laws, no matter how numerous, or how 
' long enacted — was called into question, the onus 
' of proving their necessity rested with those who 
■ undertook to maintain them." It will be obvi- 
ous, that when the onus of proving had thus 
been decided as resting upon those parties who 
enjoyed any peculiar legislative protection, that it 
imposed on them a task which the united efforts 
of all writers had theretofore failed to accomplish, 
that of workmg out by demonstration the entirO 
question of national economy: for it will be seen, 
that let the matter or the interest set up for dis- 
cussion be of a character even the most minute, 
nevertheless, the successful working of its case 
would involve the solution of the entire question, 
resting, as it must of necessity rest, upon the 
great general princijdc apphcable to all national 
l)ro)»(Mty. Now, it having been conceded, tliat 
the award of triumph shall be assigned to the 
method of arguing by objection, it will be evident, 
tliat the labor on this side became comparutivoly 
trivial, and the qualification of advocates, in re- 
gard both to intellectual strength and rectitude 
of purpose, greatly deteriorated. By the adoption 
of this imjust and fatal order in IJic governing 
power, loostMiess, change, and destruction became 
the rule, while conservation of existing right, sta- 
bility, and seciuity, became the exception. 



Mr. JiusMsson abandons t^ree Trade. 



45 



The worldng of this unjust method may be 
made apparent by a simple proposition of facts. 
For the, purpose of the argument, I will assume 
the number of the divisions of labor, or the varied 
productions of the state, to be twenty. This will 
be as efficient as any number whatever for illus- 
trating the operation of the principle. Now I 
will suppose, that the regulation affixed by the 
existing law to the first of these divisions of labor 
or productions, is arraigned. The plan of pro- 
ceeding will then be to apply the word " mono- 
poly " to the regulation under which the actors in 
this division, or the producers of the commodity, 
bring their production into the general market of 
the state. It will be asserted, that this monopoly 
has an injurious effect upon the rest of the com- 
munity, or upon the public, as the demanders or 
consumers of the commodity adduced will be 
called ; and upon this plea a destruction of the 
regulation will be demanded, and the members of 
the nineteen other divisions of labor will be in- 
vited to unite their strength in order to effect the 
object proposed. 

Again, when the regulation attached by the 
law to the second division of labor, or the second 
commodity, shall be arraigned, it will be alledged, 
in like manner, that those interested in the pro- 
duction possess a similar monopoly against the 
rest of their countrymen or the public ; and then, 
in this second, as in the first instance, the mem- 
bers of the other nineteen classes of producers, 
will be urged to unite for the purpose of destroy- 
ing the regulation enjoyed by the second. Again, 
with the third — so likewise with the fourth, fifth, 
sixth, and onwards throughout the circle. Thus 
it will be evident, that the advocates of the free 
principle will have succeeded in arraigning each 
division or class in its turn, and destroying its 
privilege by uniting the members of all the other 
divisions against it, so that the entire national 
interest will have become divided and leagued 
against itself; for, it will be apparent, that the 
body called the " Public" has, in the progress of 
the operation, been gradually diminishing, until 
at last it has become a nonentity, each fraction of 
the whole, or the public, having been subjected 
to one and the same course of action and to joint 
condemnation. I am justified in sa}dng " the 
whole of the public," because it must be remem- 
bered, that no person can be a consumer, with- 
out having a pre-existing interest, either directly 
or remotely, in some matter of production. 

Under the rule of arguing upon which I have 
just commented, the speeches of Mr. Huskisson 
which support the free trade principle were de- 
livered in Parliament. Hence it has happened, 
that after a careful perusal of them, I do not find 
that in one instance this statesman has ventured 
to place before the attention and examination of 
his audience, the great substantial problem upon 
which the entire question of free trade rests. He 
has alluded to certain great and acknowledged 
authorities in the science of Political Economy 
as affording matter coincident with that which 
he had been propounding, and his hearers appear 
to have been lulled by such assertions, and to have 
acquiesced in the assumption that such authori- 
ties possessed a substantial existence. The basis 
of all argument being thus assumed, it was the 
custom of the speaker to make up his addresses 



by means of the most extensive and Ul.founded 
generalities. On many occasions, imskilful ad- 
versaries have ventured to attack his positions ; 
when the false matter thus put forth, has furnish- 
ed him with an opportunity of triumph, not be- 
cause his own matter was right, but because that 
of his opponents was wrong. 

The speeches of this statesman, though con- 
taining frequent declarations of the benefit to be 
derived from the free principle, contain also mat- 
ter which entirely controverts such declarations. 
This is peculiarly strong and most conspicuous, 
whenever the important question of the Com 
Laws is brought under discussion ; and when the 
larger portion of liis audience was far less disposed 
than usual to place confidence in mere assurances, 
and to relinquish a substance in possession, when 
merely the shadow of compensation was sketched 
out to them. It will be my object to select for 
consideration passages which approach nearest 
to the principle involved in the question before us. 
These passages will be chiefly in opposition to the 
free trade principle, or to the course of argument, 
and to the conclusions, which the speaker him- 
self, on other occasions, contended for. By these, 
I shall show that this minister had not acquired 
any view which approached at all near to a clear 
or well-defined view of his subject ; and hence I 
infer, that he was influenced by the following 
considerations. He beheld a strong passion for 
change actuating the public mind, and perceiving 
the difficulty of resisting the impulse, he resolved 
on going with it. Wliether the impulse was in 
accordance with truth or error, he did not know, 
though undoubtedly he entertained a very strong 
desire to be right. 

Being guided by the impulse just stated, he in- 
troduced, for the sanction of the legislatxu'e, va-. 
rious and most important changes in our com- 
mercial laws. Soon, however, he appears to have 
apprehended the injurious operation of the free or 
competition principle to which he had given 
scope ; for, in the year 1825, there occurs a re- 
markable stop in the application of his polic}'-. 
This occurred on the question of the Irish Linen 
Trade. The lower rate of duty to which he had 
intended to have subjected this species of home 
manufacture, was actually inserted by himself in 
the schedule of duties, and the Bill containing it 
was in Committee, when he asked to be permitted 
to withdraw the new law which he had proposed, 
and to uphold the value and the stability of the 
trade, by the preservation of the existing regula- 
tion. The reasons he gave for this remarkable 
procedure, or the abandonment of the free princi- 
ple, will be found to be in exact accordance with 
policy to which all free trade statesmen are so 
strenuously opposed, and which they so greatly 
revile, but which is the ancient constitutional 
principle. From the date when this occurred to 
the end of his career, he was chiefly influenced 
by the policy of protecting home institutions and 
interests against the destructive effects of con- 
fliction and competition, and for this course he 
argued strenuously. The policy is more especially 
enforced in the debate on the Corn Laws on the 
18th of April, 1825. In this debate the renun- 
ciation of the free trade principle is as complete 
as words can render it. 

The view of the case which I have just de- 



46 



Political tlconomy. 



scribed, I will now substantiate by evidence, and 
you will then have before you three material 
points — firstly, the fact of the experiment having 
been made ; secendly, the stop put to the applica- 
tion of the course of the experiment ; thirdly, the 
renunciation by the minister of the free trade 
principle. I 

The first passage to which I will request your ] 
attention occurs in a speech made upon Sir H. 
Pamell's resolutions on the state of the Corn 
Laws in May, 1814. ,It affords a strong argu- 
ment for preferring the home trade in corn to the 
foreign, and is as follows : 

" Notwithstanding the importance that was at- 
' tached to the importation of grain, it was an 
' ascertained fact that in no one year had more 
' than about one-tenth or one-tuelflh of the whole 
' consumption been drawn from foreign countries. 
' If no foreign corn had been import nd the na- 
' lion would have saved sixty millions sterling. 
' It might be said, that without this importation 
' sixty millions' worth of our manufactures would 
* have remained unsold ; but then, it is not recol- 
' lected what thoge sixty millions would have 
' effected, if they had been expended in the im- 
' provement of our agriculture ; or, what increased 
' means of purchasing our manufactures they 
' would have given to the agriculturists. If, on 
' being laid out at home, they had produced these 



' remains to be seen whether causes, in a great 
' degree similar, have not mainly contiibuted to 
' the present depression of our agriculture. The 
' excess of supply in all the principal markets 
' proves the redundancy of produce ; and that 
' redundancy, together with the improved value 
' of money, is quite sufficient to account for the 
' present low prices. That this superabundant 
' production is of our own growth is also untie- 
' niable." 

Again, in the same speccli — " If no alteration 
' had been made in our Corn Trade with Ireland, 
' probably the pressure of tliis glut might never 
' have been ielt, or felt only in a very slight de- 
' gree, by the English grower. He did not an- 
' ticipate the immense change which had been 
' produced by the law of 1806. His improve- 
' ments proceeded upon calculations whicli did " 
' not allow for the prolific powers of the more fcr- 
' tile soils of Ireland. He did not foresee that, by 
' the time those expensive improvements would 
' be in their full bearing, we should be furnished 
' with an annual supply from that country ex- 
' ceeding the average import of foreign corn 
' from all parts of the world before the introduc- 
' tion of this law. This however is the fact : the 
' present depression is the result of the competi. 
' tion created hy an excess in both countries — a 
' competition the more severely felt by both, as 



' natural cflTects, then, the country would have .' they have to struggle at the same time with the 



' added to her means of independence, and have 
' created a market, of which no external relations 
' could have deprived her.'' 

Again, on addressing the House on the state 
of the Corn Laws, in February, 1815 : 

" What would be the effect, if the agriculture 
, of the country were allowed to fall bac't, as had 
, been recommended by our honorable member ? 
, The capital was so amalgamated and incorpo- 
, rated with the general improvement of land in 
, draining, embanking, and other ways, that it 
, was impossible for the agriculturist to withdraw 
, it, in the same way as might be done in com- 
^ mcrcial speculations. The capital thus invested 

would, in this case, be so much national wealth 

thrown away. 
•* Nothing could be more fallacious than the 

notion that cheapness in the price of provisions 

* was always a benefit. lie had it from good 
' authority, that the laborers in Scotland eonsum- 
' ed less corn now, than they did when the ar- 
' tide was much dearer. Cheapness without a 
' demand for labor was a symptom of distress; 

* cheapness always prevailed where enterprise 
' was at a stand. Thus, in France cheapness, 
' in England capital, prevailed." 

Again, in May 1890, in the debate on Agricul. 
tural Distress — " He contended that the chief 
' cause of the distress complained of was founded 
' on the falling j)rice8of two objects of exchange- 
' able value ; which two objects he considered 
' to be corn and labor." 

Again, in February 1822, the subject of discus. 
Bion being the causes of agricultural distress, he 
attributCB this, as also manufacturing distress, to 
excessive or disproportioned production. 

" It can now no longer be denied that the manu- 
' facturing distress of the years 1816 and 1817 

* was produced by previous overtrading, com- 
' bined with the altered value of the currency : it 



increased value of money. 

" Tlie Com Bill of 1815, however well in- 
' tended, has certainly contributed to aggravate 
' the present distress. It was passed under an 
' impression of the inabilit}^ of this country to 
' raise corn enough for its own consumption. The 
' effect of that impression was a pretty general 
' belief, confirmed by the decided opinions of great 
' authorities who opposed the Bill in both Houses 
' of Parliament, that the import price of eighty 
' shillings a quarter would tiienccforward be the 
' minimum price of wheat in England. The 
' consequence was, that prospective calculations, 
' either of improvement, or for the letting of land, 
' were formed very much upon these assumjjtions : 
' and as the import price was stated to be the 
' lowest price which, according to the doctrine of 
' that day, would remunerate the Britisii grower, 
' it was considered that up to eighty shillings re- 
' muncration was secured, and all above it would 
' be profit. The calculation would not have been 
' disappointed had the data been correct; but tiie 
' countr)' was then rapidly advancing to a state 
' in which its produce would exceed its consump- 
' tion ; and the erroneous consequences of this 
' calculation, joined to two or three productive 
' harresis, have led to the prcseiil depression." 

On the 1st of Ajiril, 1822, on the disctission of 
the Colonial Tradf Bill, there is a line of argu- 
ment in conformity' with the prinei])le of protec- 
tion and regulation, and therefore entirclj' at vari- 
ancc with the free principle. It runs tlius: 

" He anxiously lioped to sec that Parliament 
' would jirocecd to enable the masters of slaves in 
' our colonies to treat those slaves in a wa}' which, 
' he was satisfied, would be most congenial to 
' their own feelings. Su])pasing that cheaper su- 
' gar might be imported from the East Indies — 
' and he was far from believing that a state of 
' slavery was the fittest for rendering labor cheap ; 



Mr. Huskisson opposes Free Trade in Sugars, Corn, and Linens. 



47 



' yet, undoubtedly, there were circumstances 
' which would, irom the extreme cheapness of 
' labor in the East, extinguish all competition on 
' the part of the West Indies. From a principle 
' of justice, therefore, and in order to induce the 
' masters to afford protection to the unfortunate 
' beings committed to their care, we were bound 
' to favor them, and extend towards them a bene- 
' ficial and liberal policy. They had a certain 
' population to support, at all events, and whether 
' their foreign trade was more or less restricted." 

On the 22nd of May 1823, on Mr. Whitmore's 
motion for inquiring into the Duties on East- and 
West India Sugars : 

" The East Indians were, he was satisfied, now 
' contending for a measure which, if granted, 
' would not alter the quantity of sugar imported ; 
' or which, if it. did, would be injurious in the 
' end to the growers of it." 

" He agreed with the honorable member for 
' Port-'arlington that, considering the question 
' abstractedly, and without reference to the state 
' of things which had grown out of the colonial 
' policy of this country for the last century ; con- 
' sidering the question abstractedly, the only point 
' deserving of notice was, where, as consumers, 
' could we get our sugars at the cheapest rate ? 
' But he denied that the question ought to be so 
' abstractedly considered. It was a question to 
' be looked at with reference to a number of com- 
' plicated circumstances ; and far was he from 
' agreeing that the House might press hard upon 
' a West Indian, because that West Indian hap- 
' pened to be an owner of slaves. That the West 
' Indian was an owner of slaves was not his fault, 
' but his misfortune ; and if it was true that the 
' production of slavery was more costly than that 
' of free labor, that would be an additional reason 
' for not depriving him of the advantage of his 
' protection duty." 

" As for the advantages expected to accrue to 
' India, in the shape of employment for her popu- 
' lation, from the removal of the duty in question, 
' be believed that those advantages were altogether 
'imaginary. Supposing — what he, for his own 
' part, did not believe would be the case — sup- 
' posing that the removal of the protecting duty 
' did lead to an increased production of sugar in 
' India, still the persons who liad been employ- 
' ed in manufacturing muslins would not turn 
' their hands to the cultivation of sugar. Such a 
' transfer of labor from one course of action to 
' another, would be difficult in any country, and 
' in India the system of castes rendered it almost 
' impossible." 

On the 28th April, 1825, on a motion for a 
revision of the Corn Law : — " If capital had not 
' a fair remuneration here, it would seek for it in 
' America. To give it a fair remuneration, the 
' price of labor must be kept dovi'n ;* for if it 
' were not kept down, the distress it would occa. 
' sion to the manufacturer would soon revert with 
' tenfold force upon the agriculturist. He had 
' told the agriculturist in 1822 — ho repeated it 
' now — that the improved condition of the manu- 
' facturing classes, and their augmented powers 



* This, I contend, is a most pernicious error. I shall be 
ahle to snow, in my constructive argument, that tlie_ pros- 
perity of the capitalist does not arise from the dejpression of 
the laborer, the natural law being, that both flourish together 
and are mutually dependent. 



' of consumption, were a sure harbinger of im" 
' provement to the agricultural classes." 

" Agriculture could not flourish, unless all 
' other classes in the country were in a state of 
' prosperity. Commerce and manufactures could 
' not sustain themselves here, if they met with 
' greater advantages in other countries. The 
'^profits now derived from them were smaller than 
''they had been at any former period ; and any 
' thing which tended to increase them would be 
' productive of great benefit. He mentioned this 
' circumstance to prove, that it would be neces- 
' sary to enter, at a future time, upon the revis- 
' ion of the corn laws ; though he maintained, as 
' he had before done, that the present was not the 
' moment for commencing it. We had done a 
' great deal already to promote the freedom of 
' trade ; but every thing could not be done at 
' once. We had allowed the importation of wool, 
' of iron, and of various articles which had for- 
' merly been prohibited ; and the effect of that 
' measure had been to produce a large importa- 
' tion of the prohibited articles. Some difficult!/ 
' might arise if loe proceeded too far in such a 
' system ; and it ivas, therefore, prudent to wait 
' awhile cohere we now were, to see whether such 
' difficulti/ would crise, and if it did arise, how 
' it was to he obviated." 

With regard to the important matter contained 
in the extracts just made, I must invite most es- 
pecial consideration to two leading featiu-es. The 
one is, the admission tliat tlie free principle had 
been brouglit into very extensive operation ; and 
the other, that the general profits were smaller 
than they had been at any former period. It 
must be remarked, too, that this was not pro- 
nounced Math reference to any particular branch 
of trade, for the terms are the most extensive that 
can be used, being Commerce and Manufactures. 
Upon reflecting on the peculiar character of this 
quotation, I am led to the conviction that the 
speaker began to discern the fatal precipice to 
which he was advancing ; and this view is con- 
firmed by the com'se he took in thennstance fol- 
lowing. Besides which, the memorable period 
at which these transactions occurred should be 
borne in mind — the year 1825. 

In June, 1825, on the introduction of the " Cus- 
toms Consolidation Bill," I find the following 
matter wholly at variance with the free princi- 
ple, and upholding the principle of protection or 
regulation. The article alluded to is Linen, and 
this is the very remarkable instance which I have 
before noticed, where Mr. Huskisson had actual- 
ly put the lower rate of duty into the schedule, 
but begged leave to have it withdrawn. His ar- 
gument is as follows : — 

" There were several circumstances connected 
' with this particular manufacture that were ne- 
' cessary to be taken into consideration. In Ire- 
' land, for instance, it was conducted by manual 
' labor alone, he might say without intervention of 
' any machinery. In respect of linen, therefore, 
' it might be described as a competition between 
' labor and labor that must subsist between those 
' which were made at home and those which 
' were manufactured abroad. But again, with 
' regard to Ireland, the interests of which coun- 
' try every honorable gentleman must look to 
' witli pectiliar anxiety and favor, it was to be ob» 



Political Economy. 



' served, a great change was effecting in her Unen 
' manufacture; for machinery was now rapid!)' 
' introducing itself into that branch of her trade, 
' and a groat portion of capital was coming grad- 
' ually into circulation in that country; and had the 
' foreign manufactures been admitted at the lower 
' duty which he had originally proposed, it was 
' feared that many impediments might have op- 
' posed themselves to the progress of the imprq- 
' ving commerce ; the consequence of which 
' would probably have been that, losing its pre- 
' sent advantages, the Irish Linen trade might 
' never have been able to meet its foreign com- 
' petitors : that this manufacture would not only 
' not have arrived upon any favorable terms in 
' other markets, but might have been lost to Ire- 
' land altogetlier. The Committee must see the 
' difficulty in which any person must stand 
' who was in his situation. If, in the calcula- 
' tion of a certain revenue, a slight error hap. 
' pened to be committed in the original state- 
' ment, and the produce was discovered to be 
' proportion ably affected or altered, nothing in 
' the world would be more easy than to correct 
' such an error, and the public service would be 
' sensible of little or no inconvenience from the 
' occurrence of such a mistake. But if, in the 
' apportionment of duties, or the regulations of 
' trade, wherein the interest of so many thou- 
' sands loas involved, such errors should happen 
' to creep into the measures of the Government, 
' the country would long have to brood over the 
' serious consequences that must ensue." 

Now, in the matter just quoted, there is a 
clearly-stated or unequivocal admission of the in- 
jurious tendency of the free principle. The min- 
ister appeals to Parliament in behalf of the deeply- 
afflicted people of Ireland, admonishing members 
that tbe}-^ ought to look on them with " peculiar 
anxiety and favor." This is, doubtless, the duty 
of Parliament ; but surely equal regard and com- 
miseration should have been entertained and ex- 
ercised towards the suffering weavers of Spital- 
fields, of Norwich, and of other places. 

Wlicn thff evidence contained in the foregoing 
quotation is viewed as bearing on the general 
question, the inference might justly be drawn, tliat 
tlic statesman had been charged to inflict some 
dreadful scourge on his countrymen, and espe- 
cially upon that portion of them whose destiny it 
is to gain a subsistence by labor. That when lie 
came to apply this scourge to the depressed, cma- 
ciatcd, and almost exliausted laborers of Ireland, 
it became apparent to him tiiat tliese wretched 
victims could cndiu-e no addition to their suffer. 
ings, consequently, he entreated for tlic exercise 
of compassion and forbearance. His words should 
have been : — For otlicrs of my countrymen I en- 
tertain no anxiet}' — J ask for no relaxation of this 
course of action — I j)ut fortii no claim for favor; 
hut I do implore you in this case to arrest the cru- 
p1 and destructive operation of tliis free or compe- 
tition principle, and in its place to grant the sus. 
taining aid of protection and just regulation. 

In February 18!26, a discussion was raised by 
the member for Coventry, on the effects vvhicli had 
been produced by the free-trade system on tlic 
Silk Manufacture. In tlic debate which ensued 
very strong language was used for the purpose of 
impugning the system. Upon this Mr. liuskis- 



son entered upon a vindication of his measures 
and motives, and referred tlie House to a very im- 
portant document, as embodying all the princi- 
ples upon which the Government had acted re- 
specting the immense question of general com- 
mercial polic)'. This document was viewed as 
of a character so important, that the House in- 
sisted upon its being read throughout. I shall 
therefore quote it entire. It is a petition from the 
Merchants and Traders of the City of London, 
and contains a full and a clearly-expressed exposi- 
tion of the free-trade principle. It states — 

" That foreign commerce is eminently condu- 
' cive to the wealth and prosperit)' of the coun- 
' try hy enabling it to import the commodities; 
' for ihc production of which the soil, climate, 
' capital, and industry of other countries are hest 
' calculated, and to export in payment those arti- 
' cles for which its own situation is better 
adapted. 

" That freedom from restraint is calculated to 
' give the utmost extension to foreign trade, and 
' the best direction to the capital and industry of 
' the country. 

" That the maxim of buying in the cheapest 
' market, and selling in the dearest, which regu- 
' lates every merchant in his individual dealings, 
' is strictly applicable as the best rule for the trade 
' of the whole nation. 

" That a policy founded on these principles 
' would render the commerce of the world an in- 
' terchangeof mutual advantages, and diffuse an 
' increase of wealth and enjoyments among the 
' inhabitants of each state. 

" That, unfortunately, a policy, the .very re- 
' verse of this, has been and is more or less adopt- 
' ed and acted upon by the Government of this 
' and of every other country ; each trjnng to ex- 
' elude the productions of other countries with the 
' specious and well-meant design of encouraging 
* its own productions ; thus, inflicting on the bulk 
' of its own subjects, who are consumers, the ne- 
' cessity of submitting to privations in the quan- 
' tity or qualify of commodities ; and thus ren- 
' dering what ouglit to be the source of mutual 
' benefits and of harmony among states, a con- 
' stantl}' recurring occasion of jealousy and lios- 
' tility. 

" That the prevailing prejudices in favor of the 
' protective or restrictive system may be traced 
' to the erroneous supposition that every importa- 
' tion of foreign commodities occasions a diminu- 
' tion or discouragement of our own productions 
' to the same extent ; whereas, it may be clearly 
' shown, that although the particular description 
' of production which could not stand against the 
' unrestrained foreign competition, would be dis- 
' couraged, yet, as no importation could be con- 
' tinned for any length of time without a corrcs- 
' ponding exjiortation, direct or indirect, there 
' would !)(• an encouragement, for the purj)ose of 
' that exportation, of some other production, to 
' which our situation might be better suited ; thus 
' affording at lecat an eejual, and i)robably a great- 
' er, and certainly a more beneficial, cmploj-menl 
' to our own capital and labor. 

" That of the numerous ])rotective and proliib- 
' itory duties of our commercial code, it may be 
' proveil, that while all operate as a very lieavy 
' tax on the community at large, very few are of 



The London Free Trade Petition. 



49 



' any ultimate benefit to the classes in whose fa. 
' vor they were originally instituted ; and none to 
' the extent of the loss occasioned by them to oth- 
' er classes. 

" That among other evils of the restrictive or 
' protective system, not the least is that the arti- 
' ficial protection of one branch of industry, or 
' source of production, against foreign competition, 
' is set up as a ground of claim by other branch- 
' es for similar protection ; so that, if the reason- 
' ing upon wliich these restrictive or prohibitory 
' regulations are founded, were followed consist- 
' ently, it would not stop short of excluding all 
' foreign commerce wliatever. 

" And the same strain of argument which, 
' with corresponding prohibitions and restrictive 
' duties, should exclude us from foreign trade, 
' might be brought forward to justify the re-enact- 
' ment of restrictions upon the interchange of 
' productions (unconnected with public revenue) 
' among the kingdoms comprising the union, or 
' among the counties of the same kingdom. 

" That an investigation of the effects of the 
' restrictive system at this time, is peculiarly call- 
' ed for, as it may, in the opinion of the petition- 
' ers, lead to a strong presumption that the dis- 
' tress which now so generally prevails, is con- 
' siderably aggravated by that system, and that 
' some relief may be obtained by the earUest 
' practicable removal of such of the restraints as 
' may be shown to be most injurious to the capi- 
' tal and industry of the community, and to be 
' attended with no compensating benefit to the 
' public revenue. 

" That a declaration against the anti-commer- 
' cial principles of our restrictive system is of the 
' more importance at the present juncture, inas- 
' much as, in several instances of recent occur- 
' rence, the merchants and manufacturers in for- 
' eign states have assailed their respective govern- 
' ments with applications for further protective or 
' prohibitory duties and regulations, urging the 
' example and authority o" this country, against 
' which they are almost exclusively directed, as a 
' sanction for the policy of such measures ; and 

• certainly, if the reasoning upon which our re- 
' strictions have been defended is worth any 
' thing, it will apply in behalf of the regulations 
' of foreign states against us ; they insist on our 

* superiority in capital and machinery, as we do 
' upon their comparative exemption from taxation, 
' and with equal foundation. 

" That nothing would tend more to counteract 
' the commercial hostility of foreign states than 
' the adoption of a more enlightened and more 
' conciliatory policy on the part of this country. 

" That although, as a matter of mere diploma- 
' cy, it may sometimes answer to hold out the re- 
' moval of particular prohibitions or high duties, 
' as depending upon corresponding concessions 
' by other states in our favor, it does not follow 
' that we should maintain our restrictions in ca- 
' ses where the desired concessions on their part 
' cannot be obtained ; our restrictions would not 
' be the less prejudicial to our own capital and in- 
' dustry, because other governments persisted in 
' pursuing impolitic regulations. 

" That upon the whole, the most liberal would 
' prove to be the most politic course on such oc- 
' casions. 



" That, independent of the direct benefit to be 
' derived by this country on every occasion of 
' such concession or relaxation, a great incidental 
' object would be gained by the recognition of a 
' sound principle or standard, to wliich all subse- 
' quent arrangements might be referred ; and by 
' the salutary influence which a promulgation of 
' such just views by the legislature, and by the 
' nation at large, could not fail to have on the 
' policy of other states. 

" That in thus declaring, as the petitioners 
' do, their conviction of the impolicy and injus- 
' tice of the restrictive system, and in desiring ev- 
' ery practical irelaxation of it, they have in view 
' only such parts of it as are not connected, or are 
' only subordinately so, with the public revenue ; 
' as long as the necessity for the present amount 
.' of the revenue subsists, the petitioners cannot 
' expect so important a branch of it as the cus- 
' toms to be given up, nor to be materially dimm- 
' ished, unless some substitute less objectionable 
' be suggested ; but it is against every restrictive 
' regulation of trade not essential to the revenue, 
' against all duties merely protective from foreign 
' competition, and against the excess of such du- 
' ties as are partly for the purpose of revenue, and 
' partly for that of protection, that the prayer of 
' the present petition is resjjectfully submitted to 
' the wisdom of Parliament. The petitioners, 
' therefore, humbly pray, tliat the House will be 
' pleased to take the subject into consideration, 
' and to adopt such measures as may be calcula- 
' ted to give greater freedom to foreign commerce, 
'and thereby to increase the resources of the 
' state." 

The petition having been read, Mr. Huskisson 
added, " It will be clear to all who have been at 
' the trouble to attend to the very able document 
' wliich I have just read, that it embraces all 
' the great principles of commercial policy upon 
' which Parliament has since legislated." 

Now this petition is, undoubtedly, a document 
of vast importance, because it contains the foun- 
dation-matter on which the free-trade principle 
rests ; and moreover, because it has received from 
the accredited minister of the Government an ac- 
knowledgement " that it embraces all the great 
' principles of commercial policy upon which Par- 
' liament has since legislated." The matter of 
the petition, therefore, becomes identical with 
the views and the general policy of the Govern- 
ment. 

With regard to the matter itself, I am bound 
to remark that its general scope is of a character 
accordant with that which had been, during many 
previous years, so profusely put forth to the coun- 
try. Abounding in alluring descriptions which 
the promulgators themselves are pleased to desig- 
nate as enlarged and enlightened views, it can- 
not fail to be read with admiration by all who are 
so credulously disposed as to look with equal fa- 
vor upon words and things, but its great and all- 
pervading property or nature still remains to be 
tried. This I proceed to examine. 

Now, the substantial matter of the entire doc- 
ument is concentrated in one paragraph, which is 
the following : — ' 

" That the prevailing prejudices in favor of the 
' protective or restrictive system may be traced 
' to the erroneous supposition that every impoila- 



50 



Political Economy. 



' tion of foreign commodities occasions a diminu- 
' tion or discouragement of our own productions, 
' to the same extent : whereas, it may he clearly 
' shown, that although the particular description 
' of production which could not stand against un- 
' restrained foreign competition would be discour- 
' aged ; yet, as no importation could be continued 
' for any length of time without a corresponding 
' exportation, direct or indirect, there would be an 
' encouragement for tlie purpose of that cxporta- 
' tion of some other production, to which our sit- 
' uation might be better suited ; t/ins affording 
' at least an equal, and probalily a greater, and 
' certainly a more beneficial, employment to our 
' own capital and labor.'' 

Of the above paragraph, the essential point 
consists in these words — " thus affording at least 
' an equal" — " and probably a greater" — " and 
' certainly a more beneficial, employment to our 
' own capital and labor." Now, although no so- 
lution of the great question propounded at the 
commencement of my argument is here attempt- 
ed, yet a conclusion is asserted as applicable to it, 
and I beg to invite your particular consideiation 
to its terms. The words, "at least," are. at- 
tached to the words, " equal employment ;" the 
word " probably," is attached to the words 
" greater employment," and the word " cer- 
tainly" is attached to the words " more ben- 
eficial employment." Now, I contend, that the 
tlu-cc qualifying degrees or variations here put 
forth, prove the unascertained or conjectural na- 
tui-e of the entii-e matter. I contend that the 
middle term, or that of " probably," is the only 
term which the petitioners were warranted in at- 
taching to either of the tlnec portions into which 
they have divided then proposition. The preced- 
ing part of my argument has been devoted to 
tracing out the scientific treatment of this propo- 
sition : and I have shown you how signally every 
writer has failed to " show clearly," or to prove 
it ; and I have exhibited to you those parts of 
their writings wherein it lias been admitted by 
themselves that they are unable to solve the ques- 
tion. 

Moreover, I must entreat you to remark here 
the admitted deficiency of the matter asserted, 
and that this deficiency, too, is of a cliaracter 
identical with the deficiency, to which I have al- 
ready called your attention on my examination of 
the scientific treatment of the question. I feel 
confident in making tlie assertion, that if the 
question liad been imder inve.stigalion by a court 
of inquiry, conducted by the strict method of 
reasoning which is observed in our courts of jus- 
tice, the presiding judge would, at this stage, have 
felt it to be his duty to stop the case, on account 
of the matter advanced having assumed such a 
shape as precluded the possibility of deriving from 
it the result required. 

The plea upon the face of the record is that of 
increase of capital, thereby insuring the result of 
greater employment. This is the right, and the 
ONLY pica. Now, this plea is admitted, by the 
party which set it up, to be unsustainable, the 
only term which tiiey have ventured to advance 
respecting it being that of " jn-obably :" conse- 
quently, no matter is attempted to be substan- 
tiated in tlie iroily of the record, to fulfil the aver- 
ment placed upon the face of it. And, as to the 



last part of the proposition, or that of the " more 
beneficial employment," it will be apparent that 
this must be reduced to mere vacuity, whenever a 
failure to establish the proposition of the " greater 
employment," or that of increase, has occurred. 

In order to obtain a nearer view of the opera- 
tion of such a new arrangement or change of 
facts as that involved in the matter of the peti- 
tion, I will suppose the ease as appertaining to 
that place whose member originated the discus- 
sion in the House of Commons, of which I am 
now treating. I allude to the city of Coventry. 
Now, the people of this city derive their mainte- 
nance chiefly by the manufacture of ribbon. T'lC 
merchants of London shall have ascertained that 
the ribbon made in France is cheaper, or of more 
enticing fabric, than that made at Coventry. — 
The avocation of merchants being that of search- 
ing after productions in all coimtries, and convej'- 
ing them mtcrcommunicabi)', their maxim, of 
course, is, to buy as often as possible in the cheap- 
est markets, and to sell, as often as possible, in the 
dearest. Thus, their interests are not perma- 
nently identified with any particular state or 
country. Their capital or property being consti- 
tuted for quick mutation, they prefer to have the 
widest scope jjossible for the operation of their in- 
gcnuity and enterprise. Thus, it cannot create 
surprise, knowing as we do, the general course of 
human action, that they should have asked per- 
mission to bring the ribbons of France, in order 
that the British wearers, or consumers of this 
beautiful fabric, shoidd be tempted to desert the 
weavers of Coventry. When such a proposal is 
looked upon merely in a superficial manner, the 
objection arises, that such a course must not 
merely injure the people of Coventry, but abso- 
lutely deprive them of subsistence, and that it 
would be a measure of cruelt}' and extreme wick- 
edness, to permit the ^xearuig cheaper or more 
beautiful ribbons, to be viewed as of greater im- 
portance than the power of subsisting of a por- 
tion of our fellow-creatures. 

Upon this, a rejoinder is made ; which is, that, 
as the merchant must, of necessity, pay for the 
French ribbons by an article, or articles, of Brit- 
ish manufacture, so, the injury done to the people 
of Coventry will be compensated for by this new 
demand, and the labor which had become iinde- 
manded by one means, will become demanded by 
another, and thus no injury result. Upon such 
an alledgement of the instantaneous creation of 
capital being advanced, both the members of the 
(lovernmenl and Parliament were bound, as the 
chosen guardians and judges of the rights of all 
their countrymen, to have insisted on a clear and 
intelligible exposition of facts being rendered, or, 
at all events, to have required more solid matter 
to have been submitted to tiiem, before they had 
given their assent to tiie change proposed. Had 
they pressed for demonstratiun or proof, t(ie peti- 
tioners must have fallen back upon matter extant 
in the writings of political economists, whereon 
to have rested their case ; and if this had been 
done, the course of action here ])ut fijrth as theo- 
ry, and so carelessly admitted, would' have been 
subjected to a strict ex;iiniM;ition, and its false- 
ness, in all proi)ability. would have been detected. 
Having commented thus on the state of the 
qucBlion, as between theory averred and its admis- 



Mr. Huskisson on the Corn Laws. 



51 



sion into practice, I will now call your attention 
to a remarkable instance of the practical opera- 
tion of the great course of policy maintained by 
the petitioners, who have asserted that its tenden- 
cy is that of bringing about the most beneficial 
state of things for all countries. I will beg of 
you to recur to an example which I have already 
brought before your notice — it is that of the de- 
struction of the cotton trade in India. On refer- 
ring to the description of that event, and contrast- 
ing it with the theoretical assurances of the peti- 
tioners, you will be presented with a remarkable 
example of the difference between facts in suppo- 
sition and facts in realization. In the case ad- 
duced, the theory has been put into operation, 
consequently we ai'e enabled to see and to decide 
upon its results. Now in this description no allu- 
sion whatever is made to the three portions of the 
proposition which were so unhesitatingly asserted, 
of the more beneficial, the greater, or even the 
equal, employment. The alluring facts of increa- 
sed prosperity which had been predicted as the 
result, are entirely absent, and are wholly forgot- 
ten, wlule the description is — '' Terrible are the 

* accounts of the wretchedness of the poor Indian 
' weavers, reduced to absolute starvation. Num- 

* bers of them died of hunger." And the em- 
phatic words of the Governor- General of India 
are — " The present suffering to numerous class- 
' ES in India is scarcely to be paralleled in the 
' history of commerce." 

On the 18th April, 1826, Mr. Whitmore moved 
for an inquiry into the state of the Com Laws, 
and the matter which this discussion presents is 
the most important of tiie whole. It is indeed 
complete, and contains a full and absolute renun- 
ciation of the celebrated petition with which the 
Minister, only a few months before, had been so 
desirous of connectuig his general poUcy. The 
matter is as follows : 

" If there be any great question, which more 
' than another it is desirable not to agitate and 
' set afloat in the country, unless you are thor- 
' oughly prepared, and think the time peculiwly 

* adapted to its satisfactory adjustment, it is this 
' most momentous and most difficult question of 

* the system of our Corn Laws — momentous, be- 
' cause it concerns the subsistence, on the one 
' hand, and on the other, the well-being and pros- 
' perity, of the most important class of that popu- 
' lation — those who by right of property, or by 
' their capitals and industry, are connected with, 
' and dependent upon, the cidtivation of the soil. 

" Let no one attempt to deceive himself or 
' others, as to the effect which any sudden altera- 

* tion of that system must have upon the state of 
' things which has grown out of it, and along 
' with it. We must look, not only to the peculiar 
' burthens affecting the land, but to all existing 
' agreements — to leases and fixed incumbrances, 
' to pecuniary contracts of every description. — 

* For, Sir, I will venture to say, that if we were 
' to make any rapid and material change, by 
' which the situations of the persons liable to these 

* engagements were to be greatly affected, not 
' only should we do injustice to them, but we 
' should greatly aggravate the difficulties under 

* which OTHER CLASSES of the community now 

* labor. 

" In whatever light we may view the system 



' of our Corn Laws — whatever changes we may, 
' after mature deliberation, think necessary, no 
' rational man will deny that it is a system which, 
' however adjusted, cannot exclude the considera- 
' tion of price. Now the question of price neces- 
' sarily connects itself with that of our monetary 
' system ; and after the shock which that system 
' has undergone, with the examinations that are 
' now pending, and when every thing connected 
' with the elements of price and currency is in so 
' feverish a state, will any man say that this is the 
' best moment for entering upon a revision of our 
' Corn Laws ? In considering the object now be- 
' fore the House, it would be impossible to legis- 
' late wisely, unless the currency, in which are 
' the soul and element of prices, should have been 
' first disposed of; and this reason, not less forci- 
' bly than the others, convinces me that the pre- 
' sent period is wholly unfitted for the discussion. 

" I am the first to declare iny conviction, that 
' if from any circumstances the price of wheal 
' were at this moment to be reduced materially 
' below what it now is, there is nothing which 
' could more contribute to aggravate the existing 
' distress, and to take away the best chance of 
' early relief. 

" Sir, I say this advisedly. I say that the pre- 
' sent average price of wheat is one which could 
' not, in my opinioji, he ^naterially lowered, with- 
' out producing more of suffering than of re- 
' lief, to all classes of the community. If the 
' House could suddenly and materially reduce 
' the prices of all the necessaries of life, so far 
'from relieving, it would only aggravate the 
' general distress, and postpone the hope of its 
' termination. In the actual state of the foreign 
' markets, the stagnation of trade, and the diffi. 
' culties which exist universally, the effect of an 
' increased consmnption produced by such means, 
' would be worse than useless. And here I can- 
' not help observing, that among the difficulties 
' of this question, are the misconception of the 
' consumers, on the one hand, and on the other 
' the exaggerated fears of the growers of corn, 
' when they compare tiie price of it in this coun- 
' try and in Poland. 

" Before I sit down. Sir, I must say that some 
' of the doctrines of my honorable friend on the 
' subject of free trade are not quite just nor well 
' founded. At least they are not doctrines which 
' I have ever entertained ; certainly they are very 
' different from those which I have expressed in 
' in this House, and they are equally distinct from 
' the principles upon which his Majesty's Govern. 
' ment have been guided in their recent measures 
' with reference to our foreign policy. My hon- 
' orable friend has argued the question of free 
' trade, as if it were the absolute removal of all 
' restrictions thrown in the way of the sup- 
' V^y of foreign productions to the people of this 
' country. Noio this. Sir, is not ?ny view of the 
' question." 

The extracts which I have just made cannot 
be perused without exciting feelings of astonish- 
ment and regret. In the first place I must no- 
tice, as a matter of the highest importance, the 
different rule which Mi'. Huskisson succeeded in 
establishing, as determining the judgement on the 
laws affecting the great agricultural production 
of corn, and that affecting other productions. In 



52 



Political Economy. 



a former part of my argument I have showTi, 
that the method of proceeding by objection was 
allowed as valid, and was adopted by him in the 
following words : — " It appeared to him, that 
' from the moment that the policy of our laws — 
' no matter how numerous or how long enacted — 
* was called in question, the onus of proving their 
' necessity rested with those who undertook to 
' maintain them."* Now with regard to the 
great question of the Corn Laws, he reverses the 
position, and instead of pleadkig that condemna- 
tion may precede proof, he pleads that proof should 
precede condemnation. 

This, however, is not the only difference which 
exists, for it is evident that the policy upheld 
throughout the debate is wholly at variance with 
the great course of commercial action which this 
Minister contended for, when he entered upon a 
vindication of his measures respecting the altered 
state of the silk trade. The matter of the cele- 
brated petition, with which he was so eager to 
identify his own views, is liere entirely rejected. — 
He assures his audience, that the subject is mo- 
mentous and difficult — thus implying that it is 
not understood ; and then he entreats them to 
abandon all thoughts of change, until more know- 
ledge of the circumstances connected with it 
shall have been acquired. Now it will be evi- 
dent, that if such matter of sjgument had been 
sohd and true, as affecting the great question un- 
der discussion, it would have been equally solid 
and true as affecting proposed changes in other 
commodities, for it is the general question which 
is mooted in both cases. 

Another remarkable feature of this discussion 
is the attempt to bind up the question with the 
obscure one of the currency. He says, " it would 
' be impossible to legislate wisely, unless the cur- 
' rency, in which are the soul and element of pri. 
' ces, should have been first disposed of." Now if 
the operation of the cuiTcncy be so intimately blend- 
ed with the question of the trade in corn, it must 
be intimately blended likewise with the trade in 
every other commodity, for the words " soul and 
element of prices" convey the most powerful and 
general signification, and so, by parity of reason, 
it must have been unwise to have legislated upon 
other and preceding questions, until tliis of the 
currency had been first disposed of. But I main- 
tain that the assertion respecting the currency is 
altogether a fallacy. Instead of attempting to 
ascertain in the first place the law of the curren- 
cy, the attempt should have been made to ascer- 
tain in the first place the law of the consumable 
production ; for the consumable production is the 
constituent, and currency is its representative. — 
Now to profess to treat of the law of a represent- 
ative, while it is admitted that tiie law of its con- 
stituent is incognate, is contrary to common sense. 
It is similar to the case of a iiiiin who should de- 
clare hib intention of solving the sixth problem in 
mathematics, when lie has been unable to solve 
either the fifth, fourth, or third. The first thing 
is to acquire u knowledge of the law of the con- 
Btituent, and then out of this knowledge may 
flow a knowledge also of the law of the represent- 
ative. To argue contrary to this order of tilings, 
would be to argue that an effect may jircccde its 



■• llu<ikMsuii'.< Speeches, Vi)l. ii. p. 230. 



cause. To involve, therefore, the question of the 
Com Laws with the question of the currency, was 
leading the investigation further from the source 
of truth. The result of such a course would be 
to heap together error upon error, and its practi- 
cal operation would be to insure that the truth 
of both subjects should for ever remain undis- 
covered. 

Another point to be noticed is contained in the 
passage which foUows immediately upon that re- 
lating to the currency. In this passage Mr. Hus- 
kisson declares his entire support of a system of 
Corn Laws, adapted especially for the purpose of 
protecting the home production against the ef- 
fects of foreign competition. I do not tliink that 
any other fonn of words could render the opinion 
more clear or more complete. For it must be ob- 
served, that the reference is not merely to a particu- 
lar price that wheat was then bearing in the mar- 
kets of the country. The terms used are of the 
most general and comprehensive character, em- 
bracing all commodities ; thus — " If the House 
' could suddenly and materially reduce the prices 
' of all the necessaries of life, so far from rehev- 
' ing, it would only augment the GENERAL 
' distress, and postpone the hope of its termina- 
' tion." 

The last point is contained in the matter at tlie 
conclusion of this remarkable speech. Mr. Hus- 
kisson here objects against the general tenor of 
his adversary's exposition of the doctrines of free 
trade. He then compresses the substance and 
sum of these doctrines into the following short 
sentence : — " My honorable friend has argued the 
' question of free trade as if it were the absolute 
' removal of all restrictions thrown in the way of 
' the supply of foreign productions to the people 
' of this country. Now tliis, Sir, is not my view 
' of the question." 

Upon recm'ring to the celebrated petition of the 
Merchants Eind Traders of London, the doctrines 
of which Mr. Huskisson adopted as his own, and 
admitted to be identical with those which had in- 
fluenced the Government, I find that they are the 
same as those contended for by Mr. Whitmore, 
which are so briefly described by Mr. Huskisson 
himself, who, however, now declares that this is 
not his view of the question, and that these are 
not the principles by which his Majesty's Gov- 
ernment has been guided with reference to foreign 
policy. 

At the beginning of the Session following, and 
on Gth December, a discussion was raised by Mr. 
IJumeon the question of the exportation of Ma- 
chinery, upon which occasion a speech was de- 
livered by Mr. Huskisson, containing matter the 
reverse of the free principle. " He appealed 
' to the honorable member for Aberdeen, whether 
' a question of immense importance could with 
' propriety be discussed at a period when so many 
' thousands of manufacturers were cither out of 
' work or but partially employed. If it could 
' even be proved that the QX|K)rtulion of iiia- 
' chinery would not be attended with any ill cf- 
' fects, still he was perfectly convinced that the 
' agitation of this subject would alarm the inanu- 
' facturcrs, and prevent them going on with their 
' re8i)ective branches of manufactun!. He as- 
' sured the honorable gentleman, that if a Bill 
' were to be introduced wliich had for its object 



Mr. Huskisson for conserving existing Interests. 



53 



« the abolition of every restriction upon the ex- 
' portation of machinery, it would be productive 
' of serious alarm in the manufacturing districts, 
' and would give rise to the presentation of nu- 
' merous petitions from all parts- of the country 
' to that House. 

" Where the machinery was one of modem 

* improvement, and depended mainly upon the 
' ingenuity and excellence of the mechanism, 
' and where the raw material used was triflmg, 
' he felt that he owed it to the manufacturer to 
' restrain, as far as he could, the exportation of 
' such machinery. The mischief that would 
' arise from altering the law respecting a general 
' exportation of machinery, might be collected 
' from this fact — that there were at the present 
' moment many manufacturing estabHsliments 
' standing still on the Continent, under the ex- 
' pectation of obtaining machinery of a particular 
' description from this country. 

" Under these circumstances, then, and par- 
' ticularly in the present state of the manufac- 
' turing interests, he implored the honorable mem- 
' ber not to agitate the question at present. He 
' was ready to give any assistance in his power, 
' either in his individual capacity, or as a mem- 
' ber of a Committee, towards simplifying and 

* more strictly defining the law ; but he did not 
' wish it to go forth to the public, that the whole 
' law with regard to the exportation of machinery 
' might be safely repealed." 

The manner of treating the great question 
which has just been exhibited, is similar to the 
course which this statesman observed on the 
question of the Irish Linen Trade. His confi- 
dence in the free or competition principle is so 
weak, or rather, his conviction of its pernicious 
tendency is so strong, that he pleads strenuously 
for its action being arrested, on account of the 
vast number of persons already wanting employ- 
ment, and, consequently, in great distress. Now, 
surely, if the free principle of commerce is cal- 
cidated to induce such a good state of circum- 
stances as that which is assigned to its operation 
by its general and leading advocates, the oppor- 
tunity BEST suited for its extension is a period of 
suffering and distress. To argue as Mr. Hus- 
kisson has argued in the instance before us, is 
analogous to the case of a physician who should 
recommend the withholding the administering 
of an acknowledged and most efficacious remedy, 
because his patient was suffering from acute 
disease. 

On the 15th of May, 1827, Mr. Whitmore 
moved for a Select Committee on the state of the 
trade between Great Britain and India, on which 
occasion Mr. Huskisson argued for upholding the 
ancient constitutional principle of regulation, in 
order to prevent undue competition and conflic- 
tion of interests. Thus the following course of 
argument is diametrically opposed to the free or 
competition principle : 

" He admitted, with the honorable mover, that 
' it was both the interest and the duty of a com- 
' mercial country like this to endeavor to open new 
' channels, and to aflbrd increased facilities to 
' those that were already open : but it was like- 
' wise its duty, while it gave encouragement to 
' individual enterprise, and to new commercial 
' speculation, to he cavMous not to sanction any 



' measure which wight endanger or destroy es- 
' tablished interests and rising institutions; 
' 7nore especially institutions of our own creation, 
' connected with our interests, and especially en- 
' titled to our j)rotection. 

" To proceed to the argument which had been 
'' so strongly urged by his honorable friend as to 
' the application of the principles of free trade to, 
' and the extension of our commercial interests 
' with, India. In the application of those prin- 
' ciples it was not necessary that he should now 
' inform his honorable friend, the House, and the 
' country, that, as far as they could be made bene- 
' ficially applicable, he readily concurred ; but it 
' would be as readily conceded to him, that all 
' extensive changes of this description were at- 
' tended icith great difficulty, and should be pro- 
' ceeded in with circumspection, and with due 
' regard to other general interests already widely 
' established; and that, therefore, whatever new 
' measure or new systems were introduced, they 
' should he regulated in such a manner as that, 
' endeavoring to effect benefits for one class, they 
^ did not more than counterbalance the advan- 
' tages, by inflicting an injury on some other. 

" In another part of our dominions, in the 
' West Indies, and long before, great wealth had 
' been acquired and accumulated — large interests 
' had been united, and British property to a con- 
' siderable amount had been invested. Those in- 
' terests it was our duty to attend to, and they 
' had an equitable claim to our protection. 

" Not that he differed from his honorable 
' friend on any of the principles which he had 
' advanced. So far from it, he was, as was well 
' known, a warm advocate for the application of 
' those principles, as extensively and as promptly 
' as they could be appHed, consistently with what 
' was due to existing interests." 

The last part of the discussion just quoted ex- 
hibits a remarkable example of the art of sooth- 
ing. The Minister assiues his opponent that he 
agrees in the principles advanced by him, and 
that he is a warm advocate for them, provided 
they be applied consistently with what is due to 
existing interests. Now these few words — con- 
sistently with what is due to existing interests — 
raise a formidable barrier, or open the entire sub- 
ject matter in dispute between an advocate for 
the regulating and an advocate for the free 
principle. 

In the early part of the Session of 1827 Mr. 
Huskisson was absent from Parliament, the rea- 
son assigned being ill health, and Mr. Canning 
brought forward a new Corn Bill. This, how- 
ever, was not passed into a law, owing to an 
amendment by the Lords. 

In the Session of 1828, the present Corn Law 
was made under the direction of the Duke of 
Wellington; and, although Mr. Huskisson did 
not take the most prominent part in the House 
of Commons with reference to the introduction 
and conducting of this Bill, yet he advocated 
strongly its principle, preferring it to that brought 
forward by Mr. Canning in the preceding Session, 
on account of its being calculated to give more 
efficient protection to home agriculture. The 
following important passages are from his speeches 
on this occasion : 

" The scheme now proposed took the two ex- 



54 



Political Economy. 



' tremes of the scale as it was formed for the last 
' year, and proposed to enact such regulations as, 
' at the price of 70s, should let in wheat at a 
' merely nominal duty, and, on the contrary, at 
' the price of 60s. should pretty nearly prevent its 
' admission altogether. That was an equitable 
' arrangement, and one that Avould lead to no in- 
' convenience." 

" All, parties, last year, had been agreed upon 
' the mischief that would arise from permitting 
' large importations of foreign wheat, when the 
' price in the home market was between 60s. and 
' 64s. The measure of the present year was cal- 
' culated to check such importation ; it was no 
' deviation from the principle of the last year's 
' Bill, or from the manner in which that Bill dealt 
' wdth tiie subject ; but it was so constructed as 
' to defeat a possible course which, it was genc- 
* rally agreed, if put in execution, woidd prove 
' inconvenient." 

" The question now before the House was, not 
' whether the price at wliich that scale had been 
' fixed should be changed, but whether the pro- 
' tcction thereby afforded was foimd to be a suffi- 
' cient protection to the British corn-grower. In 
' deciding that question, they should look at what 
' had happened since the Bill of last year. They 
' would find that a quantity of com, amounting 
' to 500,000 quarters, had been admitted into the 
' market. Without adverting even to tlic circimi- 
' stances under which tliis corn had been admit- 
' ted, when they foimd that such a quantity as 
' 500,000 quarters had been admitted in one 
' month, it must appear evident to them that the 
' scale of duties proposed in the Bill of last year 
' did not afford a sufficient protection to the agri- 
' cultural interest, — in fact, that protection which 
' was contemplated by Mr. Canning, on the last 
' occasion when his lamented friend addressed 
' the House upon this subject." 

" He acted upon the suggestion of his lamented 
' friend, and, taking the test of experience for his 
' guide, he felt himself bound to support an 
' amendment of tiic bill of last session. The 
' principle of Lord Liverpool, and that laid down 
' by his right honorable friend last session was, 
' that up to 60s. there should be a sufficient pro- 
' tection to the British corn-grower — that between 
' 60s. and 64s. per quarter, foreign corn ouglit to 
' be admitted. The principle, then, with regard 
' to the scale of duties, was so to arrange it, that 
' a sufficient check should be imposed upon the 
' importation of foreign corn until the price of 
' corn rose to 60s. ; tliat bfUvceii 60s. and 65». 
' its importation siiould be allowed, but subject to 
' such a check as would prevent it from coining 
' in such quantities as material!}^ to affect tiic 
' market ; and when the price rose to 65s, the ob- 
' ject of the plan was to impose duties sufficient 
' to prevent foreign corn from being imported in 
' large and overwhelming f/u(uititirs." 

" He had applied the test of experience to the 
' two scales, that of last year and the present 
' one, and he preferred that which was now pro. 
' posed. The scale under the present Bill was 
' calculated to afford u better prolertion to the 
' agriculturist. Though he, as well as others, 
' had agreed to the measure of last year, he could 
' not think it a safe one to continue, as i( had not 
' proved adequate to the intended object." 



" He repeated, that he supported the present 
' Bill because it icould afford a more efficient 
' protection. When the price of corn was from 
' 60s. to 65s., under the proposed duty, the im- 
' portation of foreign corn would be checked ; 
' when the price was above 65s., the com from 
' our colonies would come in free ; and when the 
' prices were higher, the duties would operate to 
' prevent the importation of an overwhehning 
' quantity of foreign corn. An honorable gen- 
' tleman opposite had spoken in favor of a fixed 
' duty. Abstractedly that might look well 
' enough ; but when they regarded the circum- 
' stances of the country, and the wants of the 
' people, they would see the impossibility of adopt- 
' ing such a principle. If a high permanent duty 
' were imposed, tlicn, in periods of scarcit)', Uic 
' poor would be exposed to sufferings and mise- 
' ries, the infliction of which no claims for pro- 
' tection on the part of the home corn-grower could 
' ever justify. For the advantages, then, which 
' the grower foregoes when corn is high, by the 
' admission of foreign grain, he receives compen- 
' sation by the imposition of a high rate of duties 
' when corn is at a low price. He receives, in 
' fact, only that remuneration to which he is justly 
' entitled. When legislating upon this subject, 
' they were bound to look to the different and 
' varying circumstances of the country, and to 
' the wants and necessities of its inhabitants. A 
' permanent fixed duty was, therefore, out of the 
' question. The psinciple of the present Bill was 
' the same as that of the principle of the Bill of 
' last year, and it afforded a more effectual pro- 
' tection to the British corn-grower." 

February 4, 1830. On voting an Address on 
the King's speech, the causes of existing distress 
were brought under discussion, when, among 
Other passages, there occurs the following : — 

" In almost all branches of productive indus- 
' try, the profits were so small as not to compen- 
' sate for the amount of capital employed, or 
' afford sufficient support to the individuals whose 
' labor was required. There mast be some irre- 
' gularity of action in our condition.'''' 

July 5, 1830. A discussion was raised on Mr. 
Littleton's moving to have leave to bring in the 
" Laborers' Wages Bill." The object of this Pill 
was to counteract a grievous oppression which 
had been practised in many districts. The cu- 
pidity of many master manufacturers had urged 
them to grasp, in addition to the profits of their 
own trade, the profits accruing from the sale to 
their laborers of the various articles which they 
consumed. This had been denominated the 
" Truck system," and, it is evident, was merely 
an extension of tho " free " principle, or that of 
allowing each man to use his capital in the way 
which he found most beneficial to himself. Much 
dislike "ud opjwsition, however, had been shown 
against the system ; and m Mr. Huskisyon's speech 
on the occasion, there occur the iollowing pas- 
sages : — 

" He would not weary the House with the dc- 
' tails of the conso(|uences of this system, as they 
' had been deserihed to him by competent judges ; 
' but any gentleman who would take the trouble 
' to inform himself us to what was jiassing in 
' Staflbrdsliire. and in i)art of the cotton and 
' clothing districts, would find, tliat a very great 



The Moral Aspp.r.f. of the Question. 



55 



portion of the distress now prevailing there, was 
' was not so much owing to w?nt of employment, 
' as to the undue and unfair competition to which 
' the truck system gave rise, by making the 
' whole trade a struggle between the avarice of 
' the master, and the necessities and comforts of 
' the workmen." 

" Why should we not extend the same protec- 
' tion to those who had no friend to guide them, 
' and who looked up to the Legislature as their 
' shield against the extortion of those who 
' regarded only their own advantage, and never 
' thought of the sufferings and afflictions of those 
' whom they employed?" 

"It was upon these gromids, he was ready to 
' acknowledge, that on the score of humanity 
' and feeling, he gave his support to the Bill, and 
' should do so, even though it were opposed to 
' the doctrines of Political Economy ; with which, 
' however, he contended, it was perfectly con- 
' sistent." 

I have now finished an examination of the 
speeches of Mr. Huskisson, and the matter which 
I have extracted proves that he was, in a very 
great degree, favorable to a restrictive or regula- 
ting principle of commerce. So weighty indeed 
is the evidence wliich bears on this side, that al- 
though I admit that he argued for, and framed 
measures upon, a contrary prmciple, yet, I should 
be justified in claiming a preponderance of his 
evidence on the side of the former. But as in 
the construction of my second or affirmative ar- 
gument, I shall proceed to work the question by 
demonstration or proof, consequently, I shall have 
no need of using matter which rests only upon 
the unsubstantial basis of mere opinion. I con- 
elude, therefore, this part of my argument by 
submitting, that the least comprehensive conclu- 
sion which necessarily arises from the evidence 
put forth by this statesman is, that his authority 
is void. 

It has been asserted, that during the latter part 
of his life, Mr. Huskisson retreated from the po- 
sition which he had taken upon the great question 
of commercial policy, on account of party politi- 
cal opposition. It will be evident, however, that 
the precise nature of the influence under which 
he acted cannot now be ascertained by the 
public. 

On viewing the whole course of his Parlia- 
mentary career, which is now matter of historical 
record, we discern sufficient to have created in 
the breast of this Minister anxiety and deep un- 
easiness. Occupying an elevated station in the 
counsels of his country, and placed in front of an 
advancing band of statesmen, with the way be- 
fore him obscure and dark, he must have per- 
ceived what others who were behind him could 
not discern ; and with a mind actuated by hon- 
orable motives, and influenced by a love of coun- 
try, it might well be pardoned, even if it were 
true, that he voluntarily quitted an arduous and 
a dangerous position. If the erroneous course 
which he had pursued had been rendered evident 
to him by reason of his having acquu'ed a perfect 
knowledge of the subject, then, indeed, it would 
have been his duty to have remained at his post 
resolute and unmoved : to have declared boldly 
to his country and to opposing advocates, that 
the policy recently adopted was wrong, and to 



have challenged a close intellectual conflict. But 
although he may have discerned error, yet he had 
not discerned truth ; and if he had ventm'ed with 
insufficient knowledge on such a conffict as that 
to which I have just alluded, he must very soon 
have sunk discomfited in a contest so unequally 
maintained. 

On attempting then to account for changes that 
occurred in the administrative movements of this 
statesman, we need not have recourse to any such 
cause as that of party political opposition. The 
great combination of public circumstances, amidst 
which he was a prominent actor, furnish ample 
evidence to prove that a renouncement of policy 
was an act which his duty to his country rendered 
it imperative upon him to perform. 



ARGUMENT FIRST. 
Part IV. 

As it is my object in the present argument to 
show that the system which has embodied the free 
principle of commerce is false , and as I shall have 
hereafter to establish another principle in oppo- 
sition to the free, it is desirable, in order to detect 
falseness and to discern truth, that both should be 
subjected to a test, the nature of wliich is, of all 
others, the highest and most important, and which 
in the preceding course of investigation, has come 
under observation only incidentally. I allude to 
the moral nature of the question. 

Most writers on Political Economy having got 
their minds distracted by a multipUcity of facts 
and a contrariety of argument, have not been able 
so to emerge from the disorder which encompassed 
them as to keep in view, moral, as necessarily 
precedmg and directing, physical, agency. 

It was to have been expected that Paley would 
have afforded an exception, but I have to record 
his example also in confirmation of the truth of the 
remark. In his celebrated work, "The principles of 
Moral and Political Philosopliy" he has entered 
upon a disquisition of this branch of science. The 
11th chapter of the 4th book of this work is 
devoted to the subjects. Population and Com- 
merce, and the entire matter which it contains, 
cannot be characterized otherwise than as a series 
of clever conjectures ; for no part of it can be held 
forth as an example of consecutive reasoning. 

It is remarkable that this author, like other 
writers whose works I have brought under exam - 
ination, when he arrived at the more complicated 
and difficult part of the science, where he was 
imperatively called upon to check the speed of 
his declamation, and to proceed slowly and cau- 
tiously in order to work out a demonstration, has 
had recoiu-se to an evasion of the subject. Thus, 
at page 358 is the following passage : — 

" It appears, then, that luxury, considered with 
' a view to population, acts by two opposite ef- 
' fects ; and it seems probable that there exists 
'a point in the scale, to which luxury may as- 
' cend, or to which the wants of mankind may 
' be multiplied with advantage to the community, 
' and beyond which the prejudicial consequences 
' begin to preponderate. The determination of 
' this point, though it assume the form, of an 
' arithmetical problem, depends upon circum- 
' stances too numerous, intricate, and undefined, 
' to admit of a precise solution," 



56 



Political Economy. 



Again, at page 360, there occurs the following 
vague and most extraordinary proposition : — 
" The condition most favorable to population is 
' that of a laborious, frugal people, ministering to 
' the demands of an opulent, luxurious nation ; 
' because this situation, whilst it leaves them ev- 
' ery advantage of luxury, exempts them from 
' the evils which naturally accompany its admis- 
' sion into any country." 

Malthus has adverted to the above passage in 
the 13th ciiaptcr and 4th book of his " Essay on 
Population." He saj's of it — " Sucli a form of 
' society, has not, it must be confessed, an inviting 
' aspect. Nothing but tiie conviction of its being 
' absolutely necessary could reconcile us to the 
' idea of ten millions of people condemned to in- 
' ccssanttoil, and to the privation of every thing 
' but absolute necessaries, in order to minister to 
' the excessive luxuries of the other million." 
The latter part of the first quotation from Paley, 
shows the insubstantial foundation on which the 
" absolute necessity" of these writers rests. 

Malthus has also added in a note, that, from a 
passage in Paley's work on " Natural Theology," 
he is inclined to think that subsequent reflection 
induced him to modify some of his former opin- 
ions on the subject. 

On reverting to the ethical, as connected with 
the physical portion of the subject, I find that 
Mr. M'Culloch has made considerable progress in 
its development; and it is to be observed of his 
^vTitings, that issues are sometimes adhered to 
with strictness. On such occasions, if he does 
not define truly, he nevertheless argues logically. 
Having admitted a principle, he marks well its 
corollaries, and adopts without hesitation its le- 
gitimate conclusions, of whatever character they 
may be. 

With regard, then, to the principle of moral ac- 
tion, as called forth by the theory of unregulated 
or free commerce, which is the theory propugned 
by most modern writers, it has been descri- 
bed in more than one part of the preceding ex- 
amination. It has its origin in self-will. This 
passion is declared to be the right source or true 
principle of motion. This being admitted, it fol- 
lows, that the greater the impulse given by this 
power to the numerous divisions and subdivisions 
of labor, the more ample will be the development 
of the material things which have been ordained 
to conduce to the temporal well-being of man- 
kind. Thus arc connected, as cause and eftect, 
the selfish and the social, or good springing out 
of evil. I beg to direct your attention, in the 
next place, to the issues of this tiicory : having 
shown its first principle or origin, I will now try 
it by its opposite extremity, or the end to which 
it has conducted. 

In the 1st Part and tlic Gth Chapter, p. 179, of 
the " Principles of Political Economy," by Mr. 
M'Culloch, there is the following jiassage : — 

" Thus, then, we arrive by a dificront and more 
' lengthened route, at the same result I have al- 
' ready endeavored to estabiiKh — the inextinguish- 
' able passion for gain — the ' auri sacri fumes' — will 
' always lead capitalists to employ their stocks in 
' such branches of industry as yield, all things 
' considered, tlu; liigheKt rale of jirofil. And it is 
' clear to <l(inonstration, that those which yield 
' this highcBt rate, arc those in whicli it is most 



' for the public interest that capital should be in- 
' vested." 

Again, in the 7th Chapter of the same work, 
p. 191, there occurs the following passage, which 
though brief in words, is boundless in significa- 
tion : — 

" There are no Umits to the passion for accu- 
mulation : 

" Ntc CifEsi fintuna unquam noc Persica regiia 
Sufficient aiiimo."' 

The fullest development, however, of the issues 
of this theory occurs in the 4th Part of this work, 
at page 517. It runs thus : — 

" It was long a prevalent opinion among mor- 
' alists, that the consumption, and consequently 
' the production, of luxuries, was unprofitable and 
' disadvantageous. If a man wished to get rich, 
' his object, it was said, ought not to be to increase 
' his fortune but to lessen his wants. " Si quem 
' volueris esse divitem," says Seneca, " non est 
' quod augcas divitias, sed minuas cupiditates," 
' Had these opinions ever obtained any considera- 
' ble influence, they would have formed an insu- 
' perable obstacle to all improvement. Those 
' who are contented with the situation in which 
' they are placed, are without any motive to as- 
' pire at any thing better ; and hence it is to the 
' absence of this feeling of contentment, and the 
' existence of that which is directly opposed to 
' it — to the desire to rise in the world — to improve 
' om* condition, and to obtain a constantly increas- 
' mg command over the conveniences and luxuries 
' of life, that society is indebted for every im- 
' provement. It is not a matter of blame, but of 
' praise, that individuals strive to attain to supe. 
' rior wealth and distinction, that they scruple 
' not, 

" Coiilendere iiobilitaie 
' Noctes atque dies, uiti praestante laboie 
' Ad summas eriifrgere opes, rerumque potiri." 

' Ambition to rise is censurable only when, in or- 
' dcr to forward our object, we resort to means 
' injiu"ious to the welfare of others. So long as 
' we depend for success on the fair exercise of our 
' talents and industry, it is deserving of every 
' commendation. Until it has been excited, no 
' progress can be made in civilization ; and the 
' more powerful it becomes, the more rapid will 
' be the accumulation of wealth, and the more 
' prosperous will every individual be rendered." 

The doctrine here delivered is enveloped, in- 
deed, in a beautiful method of description, and 
])roniulg:ited under terms whicli flatter the eager 
propensities of human passion. But when the 
pause for reflection is made, this great and im- 
portant question arises — Who, under this system, 
would be the best citizen ? Who would contrib- 
ute in the highest degree to fulfil the intention of 
his Creator? After a steady contemplation, and 
a little unveiling, the niystcr}- stands disclosed. 
It is the slave of the passion of avarice — the Mi- 
ser. He it is who ac(|uire.s, by dint of toiling, 
during the " noctes atque dies ;" and, moreover, 
whatever he acquires he accumulates or puts into 
heaps. He alone, therefore, fidfils the law of the 
svstem to perfeclness, by yielding implicit obe- 
dience to its principle, froin its origin to its end, 
that is, throughout its entire course. 

Thus it apjiears, that when the " free" system 
of commercial intercourse is subjected to the 



*The Science capable of Demonstration. 



5f. 



highest of all tests, that of the spiritual and mo- 
ral, its principle is found to be diametrically op- 
posed to the imperative injunctions of the Chris- 
tian law, or the will and mind of God. 

It must excite surprise, that it should not have 
occun-ed to Adam Smith to apply the test of mo- 
rality to the system to which he has given his 
adhesion, more particularly when his holding the 
high rank of a Professor of Moral Philosophy is 
considered. If his mind had been led to try the 
great arrangement of facts of which he has treat- 
ed, by that test which is alone sure and exalted, 
the darkness in which lie was involved would 
have been dispelled, and he would have discerned 
the erroneous nature of his conclusions ; and, on 
retracing and examining the entire course of his 
investigations, he woxxld have abandoned the 
greater part of his inductions, and then the world 
would never have heard of the work so miscalled 
" The Wealth of Nations ;" and possibly another 
work might have been presented, which would 
have been justly entitled to a character so com- 
prehensive and captivating. 

It will be my duty hereafter to trace out the 
truth of the science under the guidance of a spir- 
itual and moral principle, the opposite of that by 
which the " free" writers have been led. 



ARGUMENT FIRST. 

Part V. 

Having now adduced so much matter, both of 
a scientific and practical character, as appears to 
me sufHcient, I abstain from loading this part of 
my case with needless repetitions, by adducing 
corroboratory evidence collected from the writings 
of other authors. I do not think myself justified, 
however, in bringing it to a conclusion, without 
commenting on a very important principle — the 
inadmissibility of proof — which many modern 
writers have attempted to introduce into the treat- 
ment of the subject. I beg to express an opinion 
that a principle so inimical to all strict argument 
— so calculated to render insecure the foundation 
of all investigation — and tliereforc in itself so en- 
tirely pernicious, should not be permitted to hold 
a place amidst the researches of the human mind. 
Upon referring to the passage in the work of Mr. 
M'CuUoch, wherein this principle is introduced, 
the impropriety of the proposition is easily detect- 
ed. It stands thus : — " It is quite obvious that it 
admits of no satisfactory solution." Now if 
this proposition be taken from beneath the ambi- 
guity of language in which it is expressed, and 
exhibited in its true form, it will stand thus: — It 
is quite obvious that it cannot be made obvious ; 
which is instantly perceived to be a nullity. How 
is it possible to prove that a thing is not to be 
proved ? And if it is not proved, it cannot be 
quite obvious. Again, the author writes, it does 
not admit of a satisfactory solution. His solu- 
tion, therefore, must be unsatisfactory. Now, 
how can it be said with propriety that a solution 
is either satisfactory or unsatisfactory ? The word 
solution impUes a complete or perfect process. If 
unsatisfactory, it cannot be a solution ; and if it 
be a solution, the word satisfactory is a needless 
adjunctive. Again, the principle of right conclu- 
sions, or truth, must necessarily exist, and there- 



fore is within the possibility of being found. The 
subject itself can have no natural alliance with 
any such principle as that of the inadmissibility 
of proof ; for all its constituents being formed of 
unintelligential matter, are consequently open and 
submissive to every mode of separation and in- 
vestigation, whereby they may be made to sub- 
serve the laws of an-angeraent, order, and truth. 
The inadmissibUity, then, will be found to arise 
out of another cause, namely, the imperfectness 
of the instrument by which the matter is exam- 
ined, that is, the hun=ian mind ; for not being able 
to discover the laws in subserviency to which the 
many modifications of material things by the in- 
strumentality of human labor may be most ben- 
eficially brought about, it cannot open for itself a 
way into the desired region, and, consequently, 
is incapable of evolving truth. 

Again : when a writer finds himself placed in 
such a position with his subject, as that he is re- 
duced to the necessity of admitting that he can- 
not acquire a mastery of the main argument, and, 
consequently, if he proceed at all he must be con- 
tent to try the question merely by means of a 
collateral issue ; the process of conducting an in- 
vestigation upon this principle is well understood 
by those whose minds are conversant with the 
consideration of intricate and difficult subjects. — 
The proper and sensible course to pursue in such 
a case is, to admit at once that the truth of the 
main argument is at present unevolved, and then, 
if a conclusion is to be drawn at all, that it must 
be arrived at merely under the guidance of a bal- 
ance of evidence ; and if it be decided to act on 
a conclusion so insufficiently sustained, the self- 
evident duty will be to advance cautiously, and 
to watch diligently, in order to ascertain whether 
or not the effect produced by the adopted cause 
be accordant with that which was predicated as 
to it ; and in the mean time to keep the mind dil. 
igently occupied upon a further investigation of 
the subject, so that by degrees error may be dis- 
pelled, and at last the entire truth disclosed. 

As the principle to which allusion has just been 
made is of very great importance, and requires 
to be carefully observed by all who undertake to 
treat of the science, it appears to me desirable that 
it should receive, in this place, the most ample 
illustration. 

We perceive, by the series of facts and of ar- 
guments which have been brought under notice, 
that no writer on the science has acquired the 
power of reducing its matter to a state of accu- 
rate definition or demonstration. This being the 
admitted fact, it is incumbent on those who argue 
amidst such deficient light, to select some point 
in advance of their knowledge which shall re- 
ceive universal assent, or be a ruled point, and 
then to urge for practice the setting up of this 
point as a beacon or guide, in order that fact may 
be preserved as much as possible from participat- 
ing in the error which an uncertain state of theo- 
ry is calculated to induce. The question then 
arises — Is there any such point ? Undoubtedly 
there is, and I proceed to show it. 

It will be conceded that the thing required is 
Capital. It must be conceded likewise, that the 
formation or the increase of capital is known im- 
der the denominative term, Profit. The thing, 
therefore, argued for in theory and aimed at in 



58 



Political Economy . 



practice, is profit, taken, of course, in its most 
extensive and general sense ; and in order to 
show concurrence in this proposition, I will ad- 
duce the following passages from the writings of 
Adam Smith, Malthas, and M'CuUoch :— 

" The demand for those who live by wages ne- 
' cessarily increases with the increase of the reve- 
' nue and stock of every country, and cannot pos- 
' sibly increase without it. The increase of reve- 
' nue and stock is the increase of national wealth. 
' The demand for those who live by wages, there- 
' fore, natui'ally increases with the increase of 
' national wealth, and cannot possiblj' increase 
' without it. It is not the actual greatness of 
' national wealth, but its continual increase, 
' which occasions a rise in the wages of labor. It 
' is not accordingly in the richest countries, but 
' in the most thriving, or in those which are 
' gro\ving rich the fastest, that the wages of la- 
' bor are hip-licst." — Wealth of Nations, Book I. 
Chap. 8. 

" Though it may be impossible to determine 
' with any degree of precision what are or were 
' the average profits of stock cither in the present 
' or ancient times, some notion may be formed of 
' them from the interest of money. It may be 
' laid down as a maxim, that wherever a great 
' deal can be made by the use of money, a great 
' deal will commonly be given for the use of it ; 
' and wherever little can be made by it, less will 
' commonly be given for it. Accordingly, there- 
' fore, as the usual market rate of interest varies 
' in any country, we may be assured that tlie or- 
' dinary profits of stock must vary with it — must 
' sink as it sinks, and rise as it rises. The pro- 
' gress of interest, therefore, may lead us to form 
' some notion of the progress of profit." — Wealth 
of Nations, Book I. C'liap. 9. 

" Wliat is now wanted in this country is, an 

• increased national revenue, an increase in tiie 
' exchangeable value of the whole produce esti- 
' mated in bullion, and in the command of this 
' bullion over labor. When we have attained 
' tliis, which can only be attained by increased 
' and steady profits, we may then begin again 
' to accumulate, and our accumulation will then 
' be clTectua!." — Malthus' Principles of Political 
Economy, .Sec. 10- p- 424. 

" It is so constituted that, in the vast majority 
' of cases, more wealth or produce is obtained 
' through the agency of a given quiintity of labor 
' than is required to enable it to be performed. — 
' This surplus, or excess of produce, has been de- 

♦ nominated Profit ; and it is from it that all 
' capital has been derived." 

" Seeing, tliereforc, that capital is formed out 
' of the excess of tiic produce realized by those 
' who engage in industrious undertakings over 
' and above the produce necessarily expended in 
' carrying it on, it j)lainly follows tliat the means 
' of amassing capital will be greatest where this 
' excess is the greatest ; or, in other words, that they 
' will be the greatest where the rale of profit is 
' the greatest. This is so obvious a proposition 
' as imrdly lo require illustration." — M'Culloch's 
Principles, p. 107. 

" Wherever profits arc high, capital is rapidly 
' augmented, and tiiere is a comparatively rajjid 
' increase of wealth and population ; but, on tiie 
' other hand, wherever profits arc low, the means 



' of employing additional labor are comparatively 
' limited, and the progress of society rendered so 
' much the slower. It is not therefore by the ab- 
' solute amomit of its capital, but by its power of 
' employing that capital with advantage, a power 
' which, in all ordinary cases is correctly meas- 
' ured by the common and average rate of profit, 
' that the capacity of any countrj' to increase in 
' wealth and population is to be estimated." — 
M'Culloch's Principles, p. 109. 

" It is always to this standard — to the high or 
' low rate of profit which they yield — that every 
' individual refers in judging ol the comparative 
' benefits of different undertakings ; — and what 
' is true of individuals, must be true of states." — 
M'Culloch's Principles, p. 111. 

" No certain conclusion respecting the prosper- 
' ity of any country can ever be drawn from the 
' magnitude of its commerce or revenue, or the 
' state of its agriculture or manufactures. Eve- 
' ry branch of industry is liable to be affected by 
' secondary or accidental causes. They are al- 
' ways in a state of flux or reflux ; and some of 
' them are frequently seen to flourish when otliers 
' are very much depressed. The average rate of 
' profit is the best barometer — the best criterion 
' of national prosperity. A rise of profits is, 
' speaking generally, the effect of industry having 
' become more productive ; and it shows that the 
' power of the society to amass capital and to add 
' to its wealth and population, has been increased, 
' and its progress accelerated : a fall of profits, 
' on tlie contrary, is the effect of industry having 
' become less productive, and sliows that the pow- 
' er to amass capital has been dmiinished, and the 
' progress of society has been clogged and impc- 
» ded. However much u particular, and it may 
' be an important, branch of industry is depress. 
' ed, still if the average rate of profit be high, we 
' may be assured that the depression cannot con- 
• tinue, and that the condition of the country is 
■ really prosperous. On the other hand, though 
' there should be no distress in any particular 
' branch — though agriculture, manufactures, and 
' commerce, should be carried to a greater extent 
' than they have ever been carried before, thougii 
' a nation should have numerous, powerful, and 
' well appointed armies and fleets, and though the 
' style of living among the higher classes should 
' be more than ordinarily sumptuous — still if the 
' rate of profit have l>ecome comparatively low, 
' wc may pretty confidently affirm that the con- 
' dition of sucli a nation, however prosperous in 
' appearance, is bad and unsound at bottom ; that 
' the plague of poverty is secretly creeping on the 
' mass of her citizens ; that the foundations of 
' her power and greatness have been shaken ; and 
' that her decline may be anticipated, unless meas- 
' ures be dcviscil for relieving the jiressurc on the 
' national resources by adding to the productive- 
' ness of industry, and consequently, to the rate of 
' profit." — M'Culloch's Principles, p. 111. 

Sutncient has now been adduced to show that 
jjrofit and that jjrofit abme — from being an end to 
which all effort in ])ractice is directed — is the 
point or feature of the subject which may be se- 
iccted and ado])ted as a guide or beacon. 

Tiiis being settled, and seeing then that the 
way to this end has only been partially defined, 
and, consequently that the subject can be argued 



True and False Methods of Investigation. 



m 



only by means of a collateral issue so long as this 
ignorance respecting it continues — it is the duty 
of those who advocate changes, to set down the 
thing they predicate as the result of the change. 
A new course of action being resolved upon, and 
the thing predicated respecting it being an in- 
crease of profit, it then becomes a duty to watch 
whether the course pursued is leading to the point 
set up. If it be discerned that the thing predica- 
ted is. in course of being realized, it would fol- 
low that the principle set in motion is true ; on 
the contrary, if it be discerned that the thing 
predicated is not in course of being realized, it 
would follow that the principle set in motion is 
false. 

Such, I contend, according to the rules of phi- 
losophical arguing, is the only course which was 
open for writers upon this great subject to pursue ; 
and this course they ought to have urged most 
strenuously upon the observance of statesmen ; 
but in the place of being guided by this com- 
mendable spirit of candor and true philosophy, 
the writers who have introduced the principle of 
the inadmissibility of proof, liaving ventured a 
certain way amidst the intricacies of the science, 
and finding their minds bewildered, and the 
course of their inquiry impeded by difficulties 
which they could not sunnouijit, have then at- 
tempted to arrest the progress of iill inquiry in ad- 
vance of their own, by presuming to declare that 
the subject does not admit of demonstration ; and 
having raised this obstruction as against the ad- 
vancing of others, they then claim to have the 
character of truth awarded to the results of their 
own investigations. It follows, therefore, that 
the introduction of the principle against which I 
have now protested, can be viewed in no better 
character than that of intentionally placing a 
barrier across the path of knowledge. It would, 
assuredly, evince a far greater degree of wisdom, 
to remain contented to be led merely by tlie light 
which experience affords, and not to inquire at 
all, than to inquire under the trammels and the 
inevitable misguidance of such a principle. 

I now submit to you that the declared object 
of this, my first argument, is accomplished. For, 
whichever of the important questions, that it is 
the object of your Commission to resolve, bo se- 
lected, whether it be that of the effects of re- 
strictions on foreign commerce ; whether it be 
the substitution of one kind of manufacture for 
' another ; whether it be the substitution of me- 
chanical power for manual labor ; whether it be 
the laws affecting the importation of corn ; whe- 
ther it be the intricate question of the currency ; 
or, whether it be that of the increase of the num- 
ber of the people without a corresponding increase 
in the demand for their labor ; it has been shown 
that the evidence hitherto presented to the public 
mind is insufficient to establish its truth. I find, 
indeed, that many simple principles have been 
ably and fully argued by some of the writers 
whose works I have brought under examination, 
and much valuable information thus educed ; but 
I submit to you, that simple principles, however 
correctly laid down, are of utility only in so far as 
they are carried on, and so worked together un- 
der the constantly regulating operation of a true 
GENERAL principle, as that, by such united means, 
we are empowered in the end either to construct, 



or to solve a compound proposition ; for it is of 
such that every practical question of Political 
Economy must of necessity consist. 

On concluding this argument, I beg to assure 
you that I am deeply impressed by the great re- 
sponsibility that attaches to me, on account of 
the work I have undertaken to perform. I am 
fully aware of the vastncss of the interests which, 
on~ this occasion, I am directly called upon to 
support ; and I am aware also in what manner 
the interests of my countrymen in general, as 
well as those of every other people with whom 
we are associated by commercial dealing, are, in 
their variety of degree, bound up with the inte- 
rest and welfare of the great body of the people, 
which your inquiry embraces. I know, more- 
over, that if any course of action should emanate 
from the proceedings of this Commission, other 
than that which shall derive its origin from a 
principle of truth, the effect of such course of 
action must be an injurious operation upon the 
public circumstances ; and, hence, an aggrava- 
tion of the distress which is sought to be allevia- 
ted. With my mind impressed by these convic- 
tions, it would create in me deep and lasting re- 
gret, if' I had treated the arguments which other 
men have thought proper to put forth, lightly or 
superficially, or in any other way than that which 
the nature of them rendered necessary. If, here- 
after, it should appear that benefit is likely to ac- 
crue from a more extended examination of the 
works which I have brought under notice, or 
from the examination of any other works, I shall 
be prepared and willing to enter upon it in a man- 
ner the most minute and careful ; for I should 
esteem no labor either onerous or superfluous, ^he 
object and end of which should be a rejection 
from the writings of men of all that is false on 
the one side, and a selectisn of all that is true 
and valuable on the other, respecting the great 
and interesting questions whicli form the subject 
of our consideration. 



ARGUMENT SECOND. 

Method — Synthetical. Proposition — Affirmative. 
Part I. 

Upon reviewing the numerous" and important 
subjects which have been set forth at the head of 
my first argument, as being the object of your 
Commission to investigate, it is evident that they 
embrace the laws on which an all-wise and be- 
neficent Creator has ordained, that the general 
condition of mankind shall depend. The end 
affirmed of my present argument is, that it affords 
an elucidation of these laws. Its nature, there- 
fore, is constructive. 

When the mind is Jed, in the first instance, to 
reflect upon the originally destitute condition of 
man, and upon his procreative, active, and intel- 
ligent nature ; and in the next, upon the passive 
nature of the matter which the world presents 
for his use, it perceives that the physical portion 
of the subject here undertaken to be treated of, 
consists of a constantly progressive series of 
things. Now, of such a series, there must, of 
necessity, have been an origin, and this origin 
must have existed, or been concentred, in a 
principle of unity. It will be necessary there- 



60 



Political EconoM'}/. 



fore to treat, in the first place, of tliis origin or 
unity, in order tiiat its true natui-e having been 
examined, explained, and proved, the issues or 
deductions which form the series of things, may 
be correctly carried on throughout the numerous 
changes and appropriations of matter, which con- 
stitute the development. 

Man is placed upon the earth by his Creator, 
without anything in possession, but with a capa- 
city to procure an unlimited variety. His labor 
is the means, — the earth is the object upon which 
it is to be exerted. With the great and exalted 
power of providing or creating matter he has 
nothing to do. The sphere assigned for his exer- 
tion is that of acting upon, or modifj'ing, the 
matter given. He is free within a wide circle ; 
but the bounds of that circle he cannot pass. 

The first thing necessary to him is food, for 
without that he must perish. His first care, 
therefore, is to procure it. It is evident that if 
God had not so arranged, that matter adapted to 
appease hunger and to sustain life had been of 
easy and quick acquirement, the preservation of 
the race of man never could have taken place. 
For there must, of necessity, be a limited space 
of time, during which man can live without food ; 
I will suppose, for the purpose of establishing the 
argument, that the space of time is twenty hours. 
Now, in this case, it would be necessary that 
food be acquired loithin this limit. If the power 
of acquiring it should be placed beyond, or ex- 
tended to the period of twenty-one hours, life 
must become extinct. The fact, however, of the 
preservation of the species shows, that the matter 
adapted for sustaining life, though it may have 
been scanty at first, nevertheless must have been 
sufficient for the purpose, and ordained not only 
to exist and to precede life itself, but also to be 
capable of being acquired within a given space 
of time. 

If, in the state of things just described, man 
should be able to procure only sufficient food for 
liis own want, his species could not increase. 
This, however, is not the case, as his toil is re- 
warded with more than is sufficient for his own 
sustenance, by which means he is enabled to ad- 
minister to the wants of others. By continued 
application to the same sources, he soon procures 
even more than is sufficient for his own family, 
and thus a store is collected, by which he ac- 
quires the power of commencing an exchange, 
that is, traffic or barter. But as this first step 
from the simple state of animal, to tiie complex 
state of social existence, is a most important ad- 
vance, the state of facts which constitute its law, 
requires to be very carefully and closely .traced. 

From what has now been advanced, this first 
and important proposition may be deduced, 
namely, that an increase of means must precede* 
an increase of the species ; and in order to obtain 
and keep in view a right notion of the welfare of 
any society of peoplc,and, by i)arity of reasoning, of 
all mankind, this proposition must never be lost 

' I ili-Hire to lay particular stress upon llii' proposition cs- 
lablisliiiiij; the law of Prect'deiici', because, altlioiii;li it lias 
been noticed and admitted by most writers on the science, 
yet when they have got amidst intricate calculations, they 
have in every instance neglected it, and hence is to ln! tra- 
ced the intromission of a great portion of the false mailer 
which at present exists in the state of the science. 1 shall 
have to advert to it more particularly hereafter. 



sight of. We know by experience that the ten- 
dency of man's nature is constantly lb increase 
its species, and we know by our reason that this 
increase of species should be preceded by a con- 
stant increase of the means of supporting it. 

The necessity that the means of sustaining 
life should be in a state of constant precedence 
having been shown, the question arises — How is 
this end to be accomplished ? It has been seen 
that the first step toward it is, that one man pro- 
cures from the earth more food than is sufficient 
to satisfy his own wants, and those of his family, 
and is thus enabled to offer to another man a por- 
tion of his own superabundant food, for anything 
that the other may be able to piocure. Now 
liere is introduced a second party, and it will be 
obvious that no exchange of anything can take 
place without there being two parties ; for to sup- 
pose the case of a man exchanging anything 
with himself is an absurd idea. With regard 
then to the second person now introduced, it will 
be obvious that he has been under the same law 
of necessity as the first, namely, that of being 
urged by his want to search for and procure food 
in the first instance. Thus it necessarily follows 
that the superabundant store of the one, must be 
identical with the superabundant store of the 
other, that is, both stores must consist of food. 

Here then is exposed to view the origin of a 
state of things which is destined to exert a most 
powerful influence throughout the succeeding 
series. Here is seen the principle of supply in 
its simple state, not having received any social 
adaptation. The thing supplied is in excess. 
Both parties have acquired more than is sufficient 
for their present want. It is supply, without the 
presence of any other production to invite an ex- 
change, that is, to create demand. The produc- 
tion itself has been shown to be of the utmost 
importance, and indeed so essential, that without 
it life would become extinct, yet in the present 
state of excess it cannot be rendered available as 
a matter of exchange. It can therefore acquire 
no value. 

Now, before the fact of exchange takes place, 
which, it will be seen, must introduce tlie princi- 
ple of the social acquisition of property, it is de- 
sirable to view clearly the case of the two parties 
here adduced — A and B. Neither of them enjoy 
a priority of right the one over the other. There 
is no title from a superior power investing tlie one, 
and leaving the other uninvested. Both have 
equal and unrestricted access to the matter of the 
world, and both have labored upon it for the same 
purpose, and both have acquired from it tlie same 
kind of production. It is necessary to consider 
now in what way the important advance may be 
n;ade. A discerns that the food of B is suffi- 
cient both for B and himself too ; and B discerns 
the same fact with regard to the food in possession 
of A. It follows, therefore, that the labor of one 
is capable of procuring, as far as food is concern- 
ed, sufficient to satisfy the want of both. The 
ste]> then should be, that a division or distinct 
direction of labor take ])lace, or be agreed upon. 
B ceases to labor for food, and relying for it upon 
the exertions of A, commences acquiring another 
production, such as an article of clothing, for this 
would naturally come next in order to food. The 
attempt is successful, and B acquires an article of 



An Elementary View of l^rade. 



61 



clothing for himself, as also for A. Thus the 
superabundant food, or store of A, acquires value, 
on account of the demand made by B ; and the 
superabundant production of B, that is, clothing, 
derives value, on account of the demand made 
by A. 

An objection may perhaps be urged against the 
course of argument just advanced, by the plea, 
that an exchange would not take place at so early 
a stage as that which I have supposed. It may 
be asserted, in opposition, that when A found his 
power of procuring sustenance increasing, and 
as he thus became possessed of more food than 
would satisfy his immediate want, that he would 
then direct his own labor to the acquisition of 
another commodity ; and, moreover, that v/hen 
his second effort had been followed by a result as 
successful as his first, he would then have made 
a still furtlier advance himself, and have procured 
a third kind of production, and so have contin- 
ued unconnected by any act of exchange for a 
considerable space of time, during which he would 
be both producer and consumer of the articles 
procured by his own labor. The like also with 
regard to B, and that an exchange would not 
take place until a much more cofigiderable ad- 
vance had been made, than that wherefrom I have 
wrought out my method of exemplification. 

It will be seen, however, that the object of my 
argument is to establish a principle of exchange, 
which I shall have to contend is not only a prin- 
ciple but the prmciple, enduring throughout an 
unlimited series of changes, being as strong and 
as binding in any instance, however remote, as it 
is in the first. Now, in order to do tliis, all which 
is requned is, to keep to the true operation of mat- 
ter of fact, so as by means of it, to establish the 
agency of cause, and to mark its issues or effect. 
This being regarded, the more simple the matter 
of example, the more suited to the purpose. Be- 
cause the truth is not exemplified at an early 
stage it cannot l)e argued hence, that it is not the 
truth. The principle ^must be the same, at what- 
ever point or stage of action, the operation of 
facts may call it uito existence. Hence I con. 
tend that the objection acquires no beai-ing, and 
that my proposition of illustration is sound. 

From the minute beginning or genn of a social 
compact now constructed, we discern, that v\'hat 
is required on the part of man is labor. The re- 
ward or fruit of his labor becoming larger than is 
necessary for himself, a portion of it is proffered 



dained merely similar to that of brutes, each sup. 
plying his o\vn want, aided only by his instinc- 
tive and physical power, and never entering into 
a state of mutual assistance or compact, no mo. 
ral law need supervene ; but the first step into a 
social state introduces dependence ; distinct from, 
and in addition to, that general dependence which 
we have upon God, as the one bountiful provider 
of all matter. Thus we have God as the first 
cause, the creator both of the spiritual and the 
material, maiu a second cause, or a spiritual and 
intelligent agent intrusted with the regulation, 
distribution, and appropriation of the unintelli. 
gent material. 

The dependence, then, which has been shown 
in the case before us, — that of A depending upon 
B, and B depending upon A, involves a necessity 
for the introduction of a moral law, which shall 
influence or regulate the principle of action ; that 
principle is the will, towards a right use or appli- 
cation of the matter which is subject to its con- 
trol. God having ordained tliat all things, whe- 
ther necessary, convenient, or luxurious, shall bo 
procured by the sole instrumentality of labor, 
aided and improved by the assistance which man 
may render to man by the divided operation of 
labor, it must be allowed, that to such a physical 
development, the same all- wise and perfect Being 
would affix a moral law compatible with the at- 
tributes of his own nature. To suppose other. 
wise, would be to infer that God has ordained an 
imperfect or immoral law as necessary to guide 
tlie practice of man, whicli would be arraigning 
or depreciating his attribute of goodness, and 
placing liim in alliance with evil, or declaring 
him to be the cause of evil. The course which 
my argument will take hereafter, will be in con- 
nexion with a moral law : showing, in everj' in- 
stance, that good moral action being a cause, 
good physical state will be the result ; bad moral 
action a cause, — bad physical state an efiiect. It 
will be evident here, that the introduction of a 
second or parallel law into any scientific research, 
must form a most valuable adjimct ; for, when- 
ever any matter arises caJculated to perplex or 
mislead the imderstandiug, a reference to the ad. 
junctive rule will be th-: ready test, whereby it 
may be ascertained, whether or not the deduc- 
tion or conclusion be correctly worked.. 

It is des"'^t)le here to review the points al- 
ready adT''-"C'^d. They are as follow : Man an 
activ"?. intelligent, though destitute being. His 



to another man. The same thing has occurred sr^iere tlic earth ; its matter passive or dormant, 



also with regard to this other man. The conse- 
quence is, a relinquishment on the part of one of 
an occupation which can be performed by tb^ 
agency of one, as efficiently as it can be hj- the 
agency of two, and the adoption in its jJace of a 
second employment, whereby each du'ects his 
labor towards increasing the eniojment of himself 
and the other, thus constituting a social union or 
compact. Here it must be especially observed, 
that the interest of A is plaeed in the keeping of 
B, and the interest of B in the keeping of A ; for 
the giving up in part a refiance upon themselves, 
has been induced by the trust that one reposes 
m the other. Now, it is apparent, upon the face 
of this state of things, that there is the utmost 
necessity for the supervening of a moral law of 
action. If the conditioH of man had been or. 
E 



thoug:h capable of being wrought or moulded 
into an infinite variety of forms adapted to his 
use. Labor the sole instrument. Food the first 
thing required and procured, and this ordained to 
precede or be in advance. A superabundant ac- 
quisition or supply of the first want, or food, 
incites to a division, or a different application of 
labor, whereby a second want, clothing, is sup. 
plied; a portion of which being proffered in ex- 
change for a portion of food, the great principle 
of value in exchange springs up caused by de- 
mand. Thus two parties, A and B, are in union 
with, or dependence on, one another. This de- 
pendence brings into operation a moral law. 

Such being the state of my case at present, I 
mtII now carry out my argument a little further. 
In order to do this, I will conclude that obseiTa| 



62 



Political Economy. 



tion and practice have improved the knowledge 
and expertness both of A and B, the consequence 
of which is, that they make further advances in 
their respective employments, and acquire a 
larger store. Tixis enables a third division to be 
effected by means of C, the offspring of A, who 
labors separately for materials to build a habita- 
tion, and in exchange for his surplus production 
of rude timber, receives a portiop of the food ac- 
quired by his parent A, and of the clothing ac- 
quired by B. Again, D, the offspring of B, la- 
bors to procm'c fuel, and in like maimer is sup- 
ported in his undertakuig by the conjoined de- 
mand made by A, B, and C. Thus we have four 
distinct parties, A, B, C, and D, and also four 
distinct commodities produced or brought together 
for exchange, each part}^ concerned iii the labor 
of acquiring, deriving benefit from the employ- 
ment of the others as well ss that of hhiiself. 
Thus A earns food for himsel-", but depends upon 
B for his clothing, upon C for liis matcriala for 
making his dwelling, and upon D for his fuel. B 
procures clothing for hmisclf, but depends upou 
A for his food, upon C for his materials for 
making his dwelUng, and upon D for iiis fuel. C 
procures material for making liis dwelling tor 
himself, but depends upon A for his food, ujiuii B 
for his clothing, and upon D for liis fuel. D 
procures fuel for liimself, but depends upon A for 
his food, upon B for his clothing, and upon C for 
material for making a dwelling. 

Here, then, is shown to exist, though ui an in- 
fant state, a community with its capital. The 
aggregate of persons forming the contmunity, the 
aggregate of consumable or exchangeable pro- 
ductions forming the Capital.* Such are the 
sources of the temporal well-being of mankind, 
and whether we regard them as 2 or 2,000,000, 
4 or 4,000,000, 8 or 8,000,000, or indeed as any 
number whatever, I propose to show that the 
great general jn-inciple, that is, the principle of 
motion or advance, must of necessity be and con- 
tinue the same. 

The inference deducible from the matter of 
fact now advanced is, that in order to ensure the 
physical well-being of ^ community, it is neces- 
sary that Capital should be -constantly increasing, 
• and also that this increase shc^ld be adequate to 
an ascertained degree or portion. This deoree is 
indicated by another, that is, the degree of the 
increase of the people who arc to be ma'ivitained 
by means of this capital. It will be obvious, tiiat 
no regard need be paid to this dcgreo on tlic side of 
extension or largeness, as on this side eiTor cannot 
enter. The limitation to be looked to and guarded 
against, is that on the side of contraction or dimi- 
nution. The object, therefore, which every rea- 
soner on the science of social economy has to 
keep in view is this — tliat Capital, as compared 
with population, be not permitted to decline to a 
lower proportionate level, but tliat the increase of 
the one be ke])t at the Ivast, equal witii tiie in- 
crease of the other. The subject, therefore, as I 
have stated in my first argument, resolves itself into 
a law of comparative proportionate progression ; 

* 1 beg leave to lUte in this place that it appears to me de- 
sirable to receive anil use the word " Capital" in ilie most ex- 
tended sense. I take it then to include in its meaning every 
thing that can be exchanged for anything, or that has value, 
from the smiUcst up to the greatest, tliiu combinius (y form 
(ifn gftat aggregate of vftlue. 



it may be compared to two streams, which, hav- 
ing their rise almost close to each other, continue 
to flow in parallel com'ses. The one having the 
start or the precedence of the other, it is evi- 
dently necessary, in order that its superiority of 
size be maintained, that the proportion existiag at 
the outset be preserved throughout every succeed- 
ing course. 

There can be no difference of opinion, there- 
fore, respecting the postulate of the problem 
which is to be solved. All will agree that this 
postulate or object is, that the aggregate of capi- 
tal be kept in advance of tlic aggregate of popu- 
lation which is to be sustained by it. Thus let 
the capital of a community be represented by the 
number 1000, and the population of the same 
community ])e represented by the same number. 
Now, if population increase to 1100, and capital 
onl^' to 1050, the proportion is changed, and the 
'late of the community deteriorated. For, it will 
bo obvious, that one of two things must happen 
in tliis case, cither some of the community must 
be altogether unsupported, or, if supported, they 
must derive the means of support bj- participating 
in the possession, that is, encroaching on the en- 
joyments of other members ; but in either case, 
the circumstances of the community will have 
received detriment. The postulate, therefore, I 
shall take as a settled or ruled point; conse- 
quently, the matter for deliberation and decision 
is, the way or means by which the object may be 
attained, including the important end of distri- 
bution, or the general participation and enjoy- 
ment of the fruit of labor or capital. 

It will be seen that in the foundation of the 
argument which I have now constructed, no 
other principle of change has been admitted, but 
that issuing out of conjunction or co-action. In 
the four divisions of employment or of labor 
which have been adopted, cdthough there is di- 
versity of operation, yet there is unity of princi- 
ple, cmd tlie result is moral and physical harmony 
or agreement. I now i)roposc to show, that how- 
ever extensively or numerously the division and 
sub-division of employment, or matter of diver- 
sity, be carried on, yet it is essential that the 
unity of principle be preserved througliout. 

I now proceed to prove that the principle op- 
posed to that of co-opcration or conjunction, 
name!}', that of confliction or competition, cannot 
be admitted into a system of social action with- 
out introducing injustice, or moral evil, and a de- 
rangement of capital, or physical evil. In order 
to prove this proposition, I will suppose that the 
four parties already adduced liavc increased their 
nuvriber to ten, and the fruit of their labor or 
their productions to ten likewise, and that they are 
exchanghig all these things mutually and bene- 
ficially, upon Uic principle of imity already ex- 
plained. Thus, then, tliere will be ten families 
forming a community, and ten species of com- 
modities forming their capital. 

The ten parties ben»g in this state, I will sup- 
pose that the members of tlic party D, in the 
search after their connnodity, luci, discover that 
they can in addition to tlic commodity fuel pro- 
cure also the commodity suited for building, and 
that too of n better and more enticing quahty 
than is supplied by C ; the consequence is, that 
they devote that portion of their labor wluch need 



Free Trade Morally Tested. 



63 



not be directed to the procuring fuel, to the pro- 
curing the commodity adapted to buUding a hab- 
itation, so that in a short space of time they are 
enabled to procure this in addition to fuel. This 
being eft'ected, they offer it in exchange. Now, 
it will be evident that the state of things thus 
brought about, must be in the greatest degree in- 
jurious to the interests of C, for, if the facts of 
exchange be realized, it must happen thus ; — A 
ceases to demand, that is, he rejects the com- 
modity or building materials supplied by C, trans- 
ferring his demand to D for the superior com- 
modity suppUed by him, and delivers in exchange 
the superabundant food which before was or- 
dained as the share of C ; B does the same by 
witliholding his commodity ; the same with E, 
and likewise throughout the entire number of the 
series. D, therefore, and those with him, will 
have doubled their acquisitions, but by this they 
will have consigned C and those connected with 
liim to a state of destitution. 

In thus tracing out the effect of a wrong prin- 
ciple of production, I have inferred that all the 
members of the community, with the exception 
of those forming the party C, who have been di- 
rectly injured, have received no injury, or, that 
the party D, the producers of the new commodity, 
have taken in exchange or made a demand for 
every portion of the various other commodities 
which have been necessarily relinquished by the 
party C ; but in a more advanced state of society, 
the effect of a transaction issuing from the same 
principle would be greatly changed and the inju- 
ry enhanced, as it would not be confined to those 
representing the party of C, but would be exten- 
ded to many others by reason of the demand for 
their commodities having ceased in a degree. 
The derangement therefore would be general, 
whereas I have now supposed it to be merely par- 
tial. I will prove this hereafter by a more enlar- 
ged example. 

Probably it may be advanced in objection to 
this line of argument, that the entire matter of 
nature being open and available, C may go back 
to his former state, and that he and those com- 
posing his family can, by directing their labor to 
the producing another commodity, soon regain 
their lost station. It will be evident, however, 
that keeping in view the established postulate, 
such an argument in objection is futile. 
~ The question and the only question is, wheth- 
er such a state of things as that now instanced, 
be, as regards the community, a progressive or a 
retrogressive step. It has been admitted that the 
tendency of population being towards a constant 
increase of its species, so a constant in- 
crease of means or capital is required to sus- 
tain it, and to be kept in advance of it. Here 
then C and his family are deprived of their means 
of support, and cast back into their original des- 
titute condition. Their labor and time having 
been employed in procuring an article which they 
knew by previous compact with others, to be val- 
uable, another commodity is substituted in the 
place of theirs, and other parties of the commu- 
nity receive that which in right should be possess- 
ed by them. If the previous line of argument be 
strictly adhered to, — and I contend that it must 
be, — the inference respecting the deserted or in- 
jured party is, that by such a course of action as 



that now instanced, they must perish ; for, it hav- 
ing been shown that the means must precede, 
and also that a limited time only can be allowed 
for procuring these means, and that time, in the 
case now instanced, being passed, so with the 
failure of the means the power of sustaining Hfe 
must fail also. I submit, however, that my ar- 
gument would be equally valid if I should aban- 
don the extreme range of my proposition. It is 
sufficient that I substantiate the fact of retro, 
gression or derangement, showing the cause 
whereby destitution or poverty arises, notwith- 
standing tliis state be not followed by death as an 
effect of it. 

Moreover I must observe als©, that if we take 
a view in advance of the early stage of social 
compact now instanced, it will be seen that, for 
parties placed under similar circumstances to 
to those which I have supposed, there is no such 
power as that of having recourse to the surround- 
ing unappropriated matter of nature, for it has 
been thought expedient at a very early stage of 
human government, to assign all such matter as 
private property, to be developed mider a very 
different rule from that now brought as an exam- 
ple ; consequently, all such resource as that of the 
unappropriated matter of nature is wholly inter- 
dicted from those who lose their hold upon exis- 
ting capital. It should be noticed particularly 
that it is upon this last-mentioned basis alone, 
that is, EXISTING capital, that any indepen- 
dence whatever is to be placed. 

I will now argue the question upon the prin- 
ciple of right or justice. It must be remembered 
that the power possessed by each party of acquir- 
ing and enjoying the commodities not produced 
by themselves, did not originate with themselves. 
It has been seen that although A bestowed his 
labor upon procuring food, and thus acquired a 
property in the fund or stock of food, yet that B 
did the same thing too, the natural fund being 
open equally and freely to both, and that then 
there was a superabundance of this produce on 
the part of hoth, and the superabundance acqui- 
red by A was useless or valueless to him in that 
state, and must have remained so if B had not 
consented to quit the occupation, and to direct 
his labor in another channel. Thus the value of 
A's commodity arose out of the act of B, and 
the value of B's commodity arose out of the act 
of A, and so likewise throughout the series. 

It follows, therefore, that the portion originally 
exchanged with or demanded by each, should be 
held as the property of each, not as the property 
of him who earned it, and in whose custody it 
remained, but as the property of him by whose 
act it origmally received the stamp of value, and 
without whose act it never would have pos- 
sessed value, or become available as a mat- 
ter by which to acquire anything. To appro- 
priate this, therefore, to a purpose other tkan that 
which may be sanctioned by the party who called 
it into existence, is a departure from the rule of 
right, and a violation of that law which a just 
and impartial Creator would desii-e should regu- 
late every motion of a moral system. 

It must be remarked, also, that a way was 
open to a just management of the matter. When 
D found that he and the members of his 
family could furnish the matter procured by C im 



64 



Political Economy. 



a manner better suited to the wants of the commu- 
nity, his object should have been to have commu- 
nicated the fact to all the members, so that by 
preconcerted arrangement, advantage — if it were 
possible to be derived at all — might be taken of 
the discover3' for the benefit of all, by which 
means the supplanting of the right of C would 
haveljeen avoided, and he and those with him 
made partakers of the good thus developed ; by 
so doing moral and physical law would have been 
preserved in co-action. 

It may be objected again, that under such an 
arrangement the progress of civilization or of im- 
provement would be impeded. The answer to 
such an objection is, that we are arguing for the 
purpose of finding out the causes ordained to op- 
erate for the well being of all mankind. This 
is the agreed postulate of the problem under so- 
lution. The primary object of an all-wise and 
benevolent Creator must be the well-being of all 
his creatures. The principle of diffusiveness 
must be in accordance with his laws. The in- 
crease or improvement of material things of en- 
joyment must be secondary, or an issue of the 
primary. To argue otherwise would be to reverse 
the just order of things, by raising the material 
above the spiritual, or to assert that God would 
prefer to see man indulging the gratifications of 
sensual appetite by violating the law* of socicil 
love. 

The principle which I have thus brought un- 
der examination requires to be still further com- 
mented on. I have shown, by my example of 
illustration, the ill effect of supply exceeding de- 
mand, and this state of facts introduces for our 
notice another great law as necessary to be af- 
fixed to production, that is, the law of PRO- 
PORTION. Although this law has been noticed 
by many writers, yet I beg to call your attention 
to it in the most particular mminer, because I 
.shall have to contend that it is on account of 
their having neglected to mark well its operation 
that they have not been able to keep in the cur- 
rent of truth. I propose here to establish the all- 
important nature of its agency. 

It is evident that production is the thing re- 
quired, for without production having precedence, 
5r being in existence, consumption cannot be. — 
It has been made equally evident that the pro- 
duction of any commodity, taken by itseli", or 
reckoned merdy as onf., can be of importance 
only as regards one commodity, and that is food; 
for food being absent, the presence of any other 
thing is useless. Witli regard to tlie existence of 
a supply of food above what one man may re- 
quire for himself, it has been sliown that this su- 
perabundance can be made available or valuable 
only by the presence of something distinct from 
itself; that is, by the existence of another com- 
modity to be given in exchange for it. This is 
the j)rinciple of demand. Now I contend that 
to preserve regularity of motion, or a continuity 
of value, tho mcasiu^c of one thing must be equal 
with the measure of another. That is, the sup- 
ply of one thing equal to the supply of anotlier; 
or, supply and demand existing in a just propor- 
tion. To show the operation of this law I will 
suppose the supply of one commodity to be rep- 
resented by the number 10, and the demand for 
it to be represented also by the eume number. — 



Now, if the supply be increased to 14, and the 
demand to 12 only, the proportion is changed, 
and hence must arise derangement in the value 
of the thing supplied : or, let the supply continue 
at 10, and let the demand decrease to 8, hence it 
is evident will ensue the same effect as before, 
occasioned by an excess of supply over demand, 
or a derangement of proportion. As demand is 
the regulator or only cause of value, so by the va- 
riation of its power the things subject to it must 
be affected. 

If we take a view of the law of proportion — 
our minds being uninfluenced by our knowledge 
of facts by experience — it will be evident that it 
must, of necessity, be the great regulating law. 
Thus, whatever the number of mankind may be, 
yet this number is destined to increase. I will 
suppose, for the pprpose of my argument, that 
this number is small. Now on this side, then, 
we have mankind existing in a small number ; 
yet, on the other side, we have the matter of the 
world, as ordained for the use of man, existing in 
the crude abundance adapted to the wants of the 
greatest number that can be hereafter. Now 
the quantity of any thing required by the num- 
ber 11)0, must differ materially from the quantity 
of the same thing required by the number 1000. 
Thus with regard to the production food — there 
must be a given quantity required for a given 
population, and if this given population be 1000, 
and the quantity of food produced be equal to 
the want of 1500, it is evident that an error has 
been committed on the side of production, that 
is, the law of proportion has been broken. If the 
Creator had been so distrustful of the agency of 
man as to withhold from him the use of all mat- 
ter excepting in such measure or degree as was 
required by his immediate want, the diffusion of 
this being enforced according to his own rule, 
that of justice, the law of proportion would not 
have existed as applicable to the development of 
things by man ; but in that case, all individual 
as well as general freedom of action and ac- 
countability touching these things would have 
been denied to man, and God himself would have 
been the observer of the law of proportion. 

It may probably be advanced in objection to 
this argument, that if we were to reason in ac- 
cordance with it, we must admit that it would be 
possible to have our lands too fertile — our har- 
vests too abundant — and the goodness of God loo 
great. The answer to this is casj' and simple. 
It is not possible to have the fruits of ('od's good- 
ness too great for his own purposes ; but it is 
possible to have them too great for the bad pur- 
poses of man. God may jirovidc most abundant- 
ly, but if man, instigated by base and selfish pro- 
pensities, deranges the matter of the provision by 
an unjust method of excluuige or iliffusion, evd 
will result on account of the misappropriation of 
the bounty of (Jod. The work of (Jod being 
that of creating or providing, he leaves with man 
tiie secondary though' great power of appropria- 
ting; but power without right principle is mis- 
chievous and destructive — hence tlie increasing 
this power without a previous improvement of 
the principle of using it would be adding force to 
the dominion of evil. 

I propose now to sliow, that the principle of 
conviction or competition is equally injurious in 



The Laws of Trade Illustrated. 



65 



an advanced, as it has been shown to be in an 
early stage of human society, and that its effect 
is, in every instance, a destruction of value or 
capital. I will frame my proposition of illustra- 
tion upon the fact of converting a' home trade 
into a foreign, and I will assume my examples as 
, appertaining to the two countries France and 
England. I will suppose that both these countries 
having made considerable advance in civilization 
and improvement, it is found that in England the 
commodity wheat is dearer than the same com- 
modity is in France, and that the commodity 
cotton manufactures is cheaper. That is, in 
England wheat is as the number 12, and cotton 
manufactures as the number 8, making together 
the number 20. Now in France the reverse of 
this is the case ; that is, wheat is as the number 
8, and cotton manufactures as the number 12, 
making together the number 20. It must be re- 
marked here, that, as regarding the two commo- 
dities, when taken in their comhined charactei", 
the people of both countries are upon an equality 
of enjoyment ; for, if the consumers of England 
have to pay more for their wheat, yet they have 
to pay less for their cotton manufactures. So 
of the consumers of France ; if the "cotton man- 
ufactures of that country are dearer than those 
of England, yet the wheat is cheaper, so that, 
taken together, the facts amount to the same re- 
sult. The question to be tried is, whether it will 
be advantageous to the people of both countries 
to leave off exchanging or demanding the dearer 
commodity in each, and to commence buying 
the cheaper commodity. That is , the people of 
England to leave off demanding the wheat pro- 
duced by the labor of their own countrymen, and 
to demand that produced by the labor of the peo- 
ple of France ; and the people of France to leave 
off demanding the tjotton manufactures produced 
by the labor of their countrymen, in order to de- 
mand those produced by the labor of the people 
of England. 

In order to arrive at a correct conclusion re- 
specting the extensive and intricate problem 
which I am here called upon to work, it is neces- 
sary that I should trace out, with the utmost ac- 
curacy, an existing state of facts, so that I may 
show in the first place what is, before I attempt 
to infer what ivill be. For this purpose I beg to 
invite your attention to a diagram at the beginning 
of the volume. I introduce a diagram, because it 
appears to me likely to prove useful in aiding the 
mind to include, and to keep in its view, the 
great variety of matter which it is indispensable 
should be comprehended for the correct working 
of the problem. Indeed, it may be seen by the 
writings of most authors who have treated on 
the science, that the difficulty of collecting to- 
gether the number of facts so as to enable them 
to be comprehended, and kept imder inspection, 
and hence under calculation, has formed the 
great impediment to their successful development 
of the science, and has driven them, on occasions 
of the utmost urgency, and when they were most 
imperatively called upon for perseverance, to turn 
away from the pursuit of truth, and to resort to 
the impotent assertion, that " the subject does 
not admit of any satisfactory solution," or, that 
" the problem depends upon circumstances too 
numerous, intricate, and undefined, to admit of 



a precise solution." The difficulty I propose now 
to obviate. 

In accordance with the setting out of the dia- 
gram, I will take the number of the people of 
England as five millions, and I will assume that 
half a million of them are employed in producing 
wheat. In the next place I will assume the capi- 
tal of England to be of the aggregate value of 
one hundred millions of pounds sterling, and 
that, of this, the proportion derived from wheat 
is ten millions. The remainder of the population, 
or four millions and a half, are employed upon 
nineteen other classes of productions, some of 
which are made up of single commodities, others 
comprise nimierous commodities. There will be 
then a value of ninety millions assignable in va- 
rious proportions, among the nineteen classes of 
productions. As to the commodity now in ques- 
tion, that is, wheat, we have to trace out its ope- 
ration upon the general capital. 

In the first place, then, a portion of it will ne- 
cessarily be consumed by its own producers ; that 
is, one tenth or one mUhon value. The remain- 
ing nine mOhons value will go to be exchanged, 
or will constitute a demand for certain portions 
of the other nineteen classes of commodities, 
each in its proportion. Thus we discern mutual 
action or dependence. As the commodity A, or 
wheat, is, to a certain extent or degree, depend- 
ent upon a portion of the commodity B, so an 
equal portion of the commodity B is dependent 
upon the portion of the commodity A. The 
same fact exists as regards the commodity C, the 
same as regards that of D, E, F, and G, and so 
onwards throughout the entire series. Portions 
of each being exchanged for portions of the oth- 
ers, thus establishing the principle of connexion, 
union, or general dependence. The nine millions 
value of A, or wheat, therefore, will form the 
substance of demand for an equal nine millions 
value of other commodities, each in its degree, 
wliich, in their turn, will form the substance of 
demand for the nine millions value of A, or wheat. 
Thus, it is evident, that there are TWO values 
here incorporated — firstly, the value of A, or 
wheat ; and secondly, an equal value of other 
things, for the purpose of exchanging with which 
wheat was produced, and by the demand of 
which it was called into existence, the other 
things constituting the corresponding general 
value, having been called into existence by the 
demand made by those who produced wheat. 

Upon viewing the state of the population and 
capital of France, constructed upon a diagram of 
a similar plan, it will be evident, that it will be 
under the operation of the same principle as that 
just described as existing in England. Certain 
portions of the general capital will be dependent 
upon the value of the cotton manufactures wlrich 
is exchanged in the country ; that is, supposing 
their value to be ten millions, one of which is 
consumed by their own producers, then there will 
be also other nine millions dependent upon the 
demand made by means of other productions of 
equal amount, and which, in their turn, are also 
dependent upon it ; thus constituting in France 
the TWO sources of production or value. 

To put the proposed change into effect, first as 
regards England : — Upon the importation of the 
wheat of France, the consumers or deraandere of 



66 



Political Mconorny. 



English wheat prefer the cheaper commodity of 
France, consequently that of English growth is 
displaced to the degree in wliich the supply takes 
place, the French being substituted for it. And 
now it must be noticed, as the immediate efTect 
of such a change, that, as tlie demand for Eng- 
hsh wheat ceases, so there will be a correspond- 
ing cessation of demand for those commodities, 
or capital, which have been produced for the pur- 
pose of exchanging with the English wheat ; for 
if B will not exchange with A, it is clear that A 
cannot exchange with B. Thus then, in the first 
place, there occurs derangement in the demand 
for the commodity of class A, or wheat, being a 
direct effect produced by a direct cause. The 
next thing is, a cessation of demand of a portion 
of the commodity of the class B, being an indi- 
rect effect, brought about by an indirect cause, 
namely, that of reaction, on account of the inju- 
ry done to the class A, who are the demanders of 
a part of the commodity of class B ; for it must 
be remembered that the demand of France is not 
to consist of all those productions or capital 
which heretofore have formed the matter of de. 
mand by the producers of English wheat ; but, 
in the place of this, the new demand is to be 
concentrated in one community, that of cotton 
manufactures. The reaction, therefore, issuing 
from the disturbance or injury done tq class A, 
will be carried on throughout the entire series, 
with the exception (for the present) of class K, 
or cotton manufactures. 

Now, in the state of things here instanced, we 
discern an infraction of tlie great law of propor- 
tion, which I contend, is not confined in its ope- 
ration to one part, but is extended over the whole 
body of capital. For if the members of class B 
find the demand for their commodities dimin- 
islied, so that the supply becomes disproportioned 
to the demand, or in excess, the only resource 
apparent to them in such emergency is that of 
entering into competition with eacli other, in or- 
der to dispose of, or to sell their commodity, 
which cannot be done without a sacrifice being 
made of a portion of its value. A similar state 
of facts will ensue, also, as regards the producers 
in every other class. Thus injmy is sustained, 
in the first place, by existing capital, and In the 
next, the future increase of it, or the general 
profit, will, it is evident, come forth under cir- 
c>nnstance9 less auspicious to tiic formation of 
capital. 

And now, as regards the commodity midcr 
class K, which is cotton manufacture — Increased 
demand is to be made in this quarter ; but it is 
all-material to consider and to bear in mind that 
whatever increase docs take place, must he de. 
riced from the general stock or capital, that is, 
from the aggregate of the existing romnwdities. 
To whatever degree an extension of production 
lakes place in this fjuarter, just such equal de- 
gree must he consumed in forming the produc. 
lion, and all this matter of consumption must 
he ahstracled from the existing capital, which, 
when put together in value, will form, the cost 
of the production. Up to this point there is no 
increase, bet any amount whatever bo produced, 
the increase will consist only in the profit accru- 
ing from the aggregate of the production when 
exchanged, that is, the excess of value, when 



sold, over and above the value consumed in pro- 
curing the commodity. In addition, I contend 
that this class of commodit}'^, or cotton manufac- 
tm'es, will become subject to the same law which 
operates on every other class of production ; for 
an increase of demand will incite an increase of 
supply from many new sources, the effect of 
which must be that the profit wLU descend to the 
general level of that derivable from other sources 
of production. 

I desire here to call your attention again to the 
diagram representing the entire body of capital ; 
for, I submit to you, that I have shown by correct 
application to its matter of laws previously elu- 
cidated, that the result of the change proposed 
must be, in every quarter, a destruction of value 
or capital. 

With regard to the question as it affects the 
capital of France, I need not dwell upon it at 
length, for it will be obvious that the same prin- 
ciple will bring about there the same result ; that 
is, the producers of cotton manufactures will sus- 
tain direct injury by the production of English 
labor being substituted for the production of 
French labor. Again, the injury done to the de- 
mand for French cotton manufactures will di- 
minish the demand of this class of producers for 
all those commodities upon which they have been 
accustomed to make a demand, thus causing a 
general retrogression or declension of value, or 
exchangeable power of the entire capital of the 
country. 

When the question which has now been tried 
is contemplated in a moral point of view, in ad- 
dition to a physical, the same deviation from a 
right course of moral action will be discerned, as 
was shown to exist in the less expanded example 
contained in the more early part of my argument. 
In respect of the French case, it will stand thus : 
— A class of the people, comprising a great num- 
ber of them, is employed upon the manufactm'c 
of articles of cotton. From a small beginning 
the trade has increased to a considerable extent, 
thus enabhng those engaged in it to set up a de- 
mand among the community for whatever other 
commodities they may want, the extent of which 
demand is measured or indicated by the aggre- 
gate amount of their own productions. Here, I 
contend, that the various productions or property, 
thus demanded, became under tlie power and 
control of its possessors only by reason of the 
producers of cotton manufactures having directed 
tlicir labor into a channel whicli was serviceable 
to all others, as well as to themselves; that is, 
TMEV created the demand which constitutes the 
value or tiie property of otlicr classes to the de- 
orrcc in whicli their own commodity was recog- 
nized as useful, and under that incentive exchan- 
ged. Let tlie matter be viewed in what light it 
inay — let tiic utmost ingenuity be displayed for 
the purpose of changing the character here as- 
signed it, yet, I contend, it will still be simple 
and apparent ; it will remain of the nature of a 
■rnuBT. The propcrt}' or value in possession of A, 
B, or (', cannot bo held as of right helonging to 
A, B, and (', but as belonging to others. The 
portion of A's property to B and others, and of 
B's to A and others, and so onwards. Now, for 
the French people to desert their own producers 
because they arc offered a commodity either pro- 



Alt Existing Interests should be Preserved. 



67 



cui'abie at less cost, or more inviting in the na- 
ture of its fabric, is a breach of compact, a grat- 
ification of the selfish principle at the expense 
or by the degradation of the social, and hence a 
violation of the law which God has ordained as 
good for the guidance of man. As in the case 
of France, so likewise in tliat of England. 

Upon concluding the proposition of illustration 
which I have now submitted, I beg to call your 
attention to the remarkable fact, of my having 
been necessarily led to the construction of the 
identical proposition incorporating Tioo Values, 
as extant in the works of Adam Smith and Say, 
and which, as I have shown in my first argu- 
ment, has formed hitherto an impassable barrier 
in the state of the science. For, although wri- 
ters on the science have not fomid it expedient to 
avoid noticing and treating of the strong and re- 
markable proposition framed by these authors, 
yet, in every instance, they have treated it either 
with acknowledged incapacity to solve such a 
proposition, or, in their attempts to solve it, their 
arguments have fallen back powerless and dis- 
comfited. 

Having thus examined the principle of conflic- 
tion or competition, and concluded upon its re- 
jection, I proceed, in the next place, to define 
what constitutes and measures out, the precise 
degree of advance which may be made in the de- 
velopment of the crude material of nature, by 
means of labor assuramg various divisions and 
subdivisions of employment, and aided by the 
laws of social compact. Upon reverting to the 
origin of a system which has been already set 
out, we discern respecting the first motion of it, 
that the superabundant production of A became 
a matter of advantage or profit to him, when B 
presented another production in exchange for it, 
that is, demanded it. So in the case of B. Thus, 
it is evident, that the superabundant production 
of A, or his profit, marked out the degree of ad- 
vance as regarded A and B. So again on the 
formation of a third division, or C. The increase 
or profit of A and B, measured out the degree of 
advance or improvement to be undertaken. Tlie 
third division having been efllected, or established 
successfully, and an increase taking place in all, 
the aggregate of this increase or profit forms 
again the fmid, by means of which a further ad- 
vance may be made, and so, I contend, must the 
principle here developed continue its operation 
throughout any given series of exchanges. Just 
so much may be done — more cannot be done. — 
Thus it has been established, that capital, or 
means, must have precedence of population, and 
be so continued. The increase of capital, then, 
or as it has been termed, profit, measures out or 
indicates exactly, the extent of the power of im- 
provement. If this law of degree, as issuing 
from the general body of capital, be observed, the 
result would be the additional observance of the 
law of proportion, as applicable to each commo- 
dity in its separate character, and thus a perfect 
system would be in operation, exemplifjang the 
two great points desired, namely, abundant pro- 
duction and a just law of diffusing it. 

As the matter here contended for is the most 
important feature of the entire subject, I will re. 
fer again to the diagram, in order that it may be 
set forth in the clearest point of view. In this 



diagram we discern the population of a state to 
1)6 in number five millions, and its capital of the 
value of 100 millions. We discern, moreover, 
the several divisions of employment, the produc- 
tions of each being exchanged goaerally, form 
the substance of support, or the power of each 
class to buy or to enjoy. Now it must be remem- 
bered, that the agreed postulate of the problem I 
am working, is that of finding out the method 
whereby a constant increase of the fund here ex- 
hibited may be insm-ed, in order to provide for a 
constant increase of the people who are to sub- 
sist by it. Upon applying the great law of de- 
mand, as it has been established in my argument, 
to all the sources of production set out in this dia- 
gram, the result will be a continuity of this power 
or demand, in order to preserve existing interests, 
and then an advance from this basis adequate to 
the increase wliich each fund acquires by reason 
of the new portion of it, or the increased produc- 
tion acquiring value by the general demand made 
for it by others. Thus if the increase or profit of 
the 100 millions capital be 10 per cent, during a 
year, in that case there will be a fund of 10 mill- 
ions out of which to effect the changes undertaken 
by the entire community. 

Such a course of action being observed, and a 
sufiiciency secured for all the members, a com- 
munity might then be in a state to afford a sacri- 
fice or expenditure of a portion of capital. The 
manner of doing this would then become a mat- 
ter for deliberation. It might be decided, by 
means of such surplus, to substitute a mechani- 
cal instrument for manual labor ; it might be de- 
cided to exchange a portion of production made 
by the labor of the community for a portion of 
another production procured by the labor of ano- 
ther community, or in fact in any other method de- 
vised. But whatever direction industry is de- 
creed to pursue, the laws now developed should 
be adhered to, for the purpose of preserving in the 
change made the existing rights of all ; or if an 
encroachment be made, an equivalent granted, 
thus fulfilling the great moral law of justice. If 
a state should do contrary to tliis, and decide 
upon importing, for the sake of mere pleasant or 
luxuriant consumption, an article which was not 
to be procm-cd among its own people, and in ef- 
fecting such or any other change, should disre- 
gard the established right of any of its own peo- 
ple, its case would be precisely as that of the pa- 
rents of a family who should be found regaling 
themselves with wine while they permitted their 
children to want food. Let the children be well 
taken care of in the first place, and then the mod- 
erate enjoyment of wine would be in conformity 
with right or the law of God, 

By the entire matter of argument which has 
now been advanced, I contend, that the princi- 
ple of unitedness, co-operation, or conjunction, is 
shown to be the law ordained by the Creator for 
forming and preserving the strength and well- 
being of states. It will be observed, that the 
principle thus affixed to progressive motion, is in 
its nature analogous to the laws which govern 
matter in general. In order to produce con- 
structive harmony, a strict combination and co- 
movement of parts are necessary ; and in con- 
tradistinction, discord, derangement, and de- 
struction, arise from powers meeting in conflict. 



68 



Political Economy. 



Commencing in a small centre, and continuing 
an expansion under the form of a regularly con- 
nected series of advancing circles, establishes 
the principle of union or co-action, in opposition 
to that of confliction, competition, or repulsion. 
And one law or principle being applicable to all 
states, that is, truth being of universal applica- 
tion, it will follow, that the interests of all asso- 
ciated communities of people or nations are 
identical ; and also that they are the contrary of 
being identified, and that there is no principle b}^ 
which powers having their origin in distinct 
centres, and advancing from these centres, can 
be made to merge and move in a direction oppo- 
site to that from which the original impulse is 
received. 

In order that the operation of the great general 
law which I have here contended for, may be clearly 
discerned and comprehended, let a map of the 
entire world be placed open for inspection. Let 
it then be supposed, that the existence of man 
upon this sphere has just commenced, or, that 
two persons only are existing. That these two 
persons and their progeny are to develop the mat- 
ter before them by means of labor. The work 
must, of necessity, be accomplished portion' after 
portion, or by degrees, and by mutual assistance, 
or by numerous divisions of employment. In 
conducting the process of development, the pow- 
erful, though simple law of regard for the opera- 
tions of each other's labor, that is, a series of 
exchanges under the rule of justice, is to be ob- 
served ; thus the expansion is to be carried on 
from man to man, or by labor and labor, to any 
conceivable extent. 

Now, let it be supposed, that after the lapse of 
a certain time, two families resolve on quitting 
this first or original community and compact, 
and to commence a separate course of action, for 
which purpose they betake themselves to another 
and a distant part of the world. The same pro- 
cess of acquiring, must, of necessity, be observed 
in this, as was observed in the community formed 
first. Now here a distinct nation will arise, and, 
it will be obvious, tliat tlic principle of advance- 
ment will be of a character precisely the same 
as that of the society first instanced. Thus there 
will be no identification of interests between llic 
parties who compose the first community, and 
those who compose the second, for tliis lias been 
broken by the parties themselves having quitted 
the original association or stock ; but the law of 
action will continue the same, and will be as im- 
perative on the persons composing the second 
community, as it was on those composing the 
first. 

All nations have attempted, at various periods 
of their history, by instituting numerous com- 
mercial regulations and rcstri(;tions, to efl'ect, in 
some degree, the object here explained, and the 
records of our own country present remarkable 
examples of the fact, and tlicy appertain to the 
circumstances, both of our domestic and foreign 
relations. But the natural and iiihen-iit selfish- 
ness of man, intent mainly u|K)n his own interests 
and gratifications, has urged him to disregard, to 
oppose, and to break down, all such regulations, 
and therefore it is, that by the course of events, 
the existence of distress and destitution in states, 
has become almost as great, us if such beneficial 



laws and regulations had never been framed. 
And so greatly does the inclination to do wrong, 
exceed the inclination to do right, that if it had 
not been for the impediment interposed against 
the free or indiscriminate and licentious inter- 
course of nations by the confusion of language, 
no community on earth would ever have attained 
to any considerable degree of eminence or power, 
unless indeed a new law of action, very different 
from the natural one, had been not only promul- 
gated, but. also obeyed generally. 

Having established the principles of my con- 
structive argument, and exemplified them as far 
as I conceive it to be requisite at present, I wall, 
in the next place, call your attention to evidence 
in corroboration. You will have perceived, that, 
in the matter which I have laid before you, most 
particular stress has been placed upon two great 
features of it — the one being the law of prece- 
dence, or the necessity of keeping capital in ad- 
VANCE of population ; the other being the law of 
proportion, as applicable to production in general. 
I propose now to show y©u that the importance 
of these two laws has been seen and recognised ; 
but, unfortunately, their operation has been over- 
looked amidst a confused state of matter, and 
hence have arisen the erroneous conclusion to 
which your attention was called in the course of 
my first argument. 

I will cite, first, as touching the law of prece- 
dence. In the 1st Book and the 3rd Chapter of 
the Wealth of Nations, there occurs the fol- 
lowing : 

'• As it is the power of exchanging that gives 
' occasion to the division of labor, so the extent 
' of this division must always be hmited by the 
' extent of that power, or in other words by the 
' extent of the market. 

" The extent of their market, therefore, must 
' for a long time be in proportion to the riches 
' and populousness of that country, and conse- 
' quently their improvement must always be 
' POSTERIOR to the improvement of that country." 

Again, 1st Book, 8th Ciiapter : — " The de- 
' mands for those who live by wages, necessarily 
' increases with the increase of the revenue and 
' stock of every country, and caimot possibly in- 
' crease without it. The increase of revenue and 
' stock is the increase of national wealth. The 
' demand for those who live by wages, therefore, 
' naturally increases with the increase of national 
' wealth, and cannot possibly increase without 
' it. It is not the actual greatness of national 
' wealth, but its continual increase, which occa- 
' sions a rise in the wages of labor. It is not 
' accordingly in the richest countries, but in the 
' most thriving, or in tljosc which ai'c growing 
' rich the fastest, that Uic wages of labor are 
' highest.'' 

Again, 2nd Book, Introduction : — " A weaver 
' cannot apply himself entirely to his peculiar 
' business, unless there is bkkorkiiaxd stored up 
' somewhere, either in his own possession or in 
' that of some other person, a stock sufficient to 
• maintain him, and to supply him with flie mii- 
' terials and tools of his work, till he has not only 
' completed, but sold his web. This accumula- 
' tlon must, evidently, be i-rkvious to his applj'- 
' ing his industry for so long a time to such a 
' peculiar business." 



Capital and the Division of Labor. 



" As the accumulation of stock must, in the 
' nature of things, be previous to the division of 
' labor, so labor can be more and more subdi- 
* vided in proportion, only as stoclc is previously 
' more and more accumulated." 

In the Essay on the Principle of Population by 
Malthus, Book 3rd, Cap. 8 : — " It must ever be 
true that the surplus produce of the cultivators, 
taken in its most enlarged sense, measures and 
limits the growth of that part of the society, 
which is not employed upon the land. Through- 
out the whole world the number of manufac 
turers, of merchants, of proprietors, and of per- 
sons engaged in the various civil and military 
professions, must be exactly proportioned to his 
surplus produce, and cannot in the nature of 
things increase beyond it. If the earth had 
been so niggardly of her produce, as to obhge 
all her inhabitants to labor for it, no manufac- 
turers or idle persons could ever have existed. 
But her first intercourse with man was a volun- 
tary present, not very large indeed, but suffi- 
cient as a fund for his subsistence till he could 
procm-e a greater. And the power to procure a 
greater was given to him in that quality of the 
earth, by which it maybe made to yield a much 
larger quantity of food, and of the materials of 
clothing and lodging, than is necessary to feed, 
cloths, and lodge the persons employed in the 
cultivation of the soil. This quality is the foun- 
dation of that surplus produce, which peculiarly 
distinguishes the industry employed upon the 
land. In proportion as the labor and ingenuity 
of man, exercised upon the land, have increased 
this surplus produce, leisure has been given to a 
greater number of persons to employ themselves 
in all the inventions which embellish civiJized 
life ; while the desire to profit bj' their inven- 
tions, has continued to stimulate the cultivators 
to increase their surplus produce. This desire 
may be considered as almost absolutely neces- 
sary to give it its proper value, and to encourage 
its further extension ; but still the order of pre- 
cedence is, strictly speaking, the gurplus pro- 
duce ; because the funds for the subsistence of 
the manufacturer must be advanced to him be- 
fore he can complete his work, and no step can 
be taken in any other sort of industry unless the 
cultivators obtain from the soil more than they 
themselves consume." 

Again, the same work. Book ^, Cap. 14 : — 
' And in the same manner, with a view to any 
essential improvement in the condition of the 
laborer, which is to give him a greater effective 
command over the means of comfortable sub- 
sistence, it is absoiutely necessary that setting 
out from the lowest point, the increase of food 
must PRECEDE and be greater than the increase 
of population." 
" Strictly speaking, then, as man cannot live 
without food, there can be no doubt that in the 
order of precedence food must take the lead." 
In IVIr. IVI'Culloch's work, " Principles of Po- 
litical Economy," there occur the following pas- 
sages bearing upon the point : — 

Page 99. — " The division of labor cannot be 
carried to any very considerable extent without 
the PREVIOUS accumulation of capital. Before 
labor can be divided, a stock of goods of differ- 
ent Idnda must he stored up somewhere, suffi- 



' cient to maintain the laborer, and to supply him 
' with materials and tools. A weaver cannot ap- 
' ply himself entirely to his peculiar business, im- 
' less there is beforehand stored up somewhere, 
' either in his own possession, or in that of some 
' other person, a stock sufficient to maintain him, 
' and to supply him with the materials and tools 
' of his worli, till he has not only completed but 
' sold his web. This accumulation must evident- 
' ly be previous to his applying himself for so long 
' a time to such a peculiar business."* 

' As the accumulation of capital must have 
' preceded the extensive division of labor, so its 
' subsequent division can only be perfected as 
' capital is more and more accumulated." 

Again the same work, page 377 : — " The ca- 
' pacity of a country to support and employ labor- 
' ers is in no degree dependent on advantageous- 
' ness of situation, richness of soil, or extent of 
' territory. These? undoubtedly are circumstan- 
' CCS of very great importance, and have a povv- 
' erful influence in determining the rate at which 
' a people advances in the career of wealth and 
' civilization. But it is obviously not on them, 
' but on the actual amount of the accumulated 
' produce of previous labor, or of capital appli- 
' cable to the payment of wages in POSSES- 
' SION of a country, that its power of support. 
' ing and employing laborers must depend. A 
' fertile soil affords the means of rapidly increas- 
' ing capital ; but that is all. BEFORE the 
' soil can be cultivated, capital must be provided 
' for the support of the laborers employed upon 
' it, as it must be provided for the support of 
' those engaged in manufactures, or in any other 
' department of industry." 

Having thus shown tliat the law of precedence 
has been noticed, and its important character ac- 
knowledged, I will now invite your attention to 
passages in the works of Adam Smith and Mai- 
thus, bearing upon the law of proportion. I beg 
leave here to remark, that this feature of the sub. 
ject forms to me the most interesting point of the 
science, ior, it is owing to the not having discov- 
ered, or neglecting to bring into operation, the all. 
pervading power of this law, tliat the arguments 
oi all writers have failed to establish that perfect 
arrangement of matter which constitutes truth. 
In the 1st Book and 7th Chap, of the Wealth 
of Nations, there occur the following passages : 
" The quantity of every commodity brought to 
' market naturally suits itself to the effectual dc 
' mand. It is the interest of all those who em- 
' ploy their land, labor, and stock in bringing any 
' commodity to market, that the quantity never 
' should lixcE'ED the effectual demand ; and it is 
' the interest of all other people that it never should 
' fall short of that demand." 

And again : — " The whole quantity of industry 
' annually employed in order to bring any com- 
' modify to market, naturally suits itself in this 
' manner to the effectual demand. It naturally 
' aims at bringing always that precise quantity 
' thither which may be suffi cient to supply, and 
' NO more than supply, that demand." 

In the passages just adduced we see that the 
author has wrought out, by a very narrow range 



* This passage i* that already i^uoted from the " Wealth 
of Nations." , 



7q 



Polilical Kconoray. 



of argument, the law upon -which I am now 
treating. He lias declared, on the one side, that 
the production of commodities should never be 
permitted to fall below a certain line ; and on 
the other, that it should not be pcnuitted to rise 
ABOVE this certain line, tluis defining as accuralcly 
as possible the law of proportion as necessary to 
be applied to production. 

I will now cite the passages f/om the writings 
of Malthus. At the close of his work, " Princi- 
ples of Political Economy," Sec. 10, under the 
head of " The Progress of Wealth," lie treats 
the subjects under discussion in a very elaborate 
manner; and after adverting to the diffieidly 
there is in accounting for certain cfTents, which, 
according to the generally received mode of rca- 
soning, ought not to have followed tJie causes 
adopted — that is, that the power of production, 
when taken singly, does not bring about the ef- 
fects predicated as to it, he puts down the remark- 
able sentence which I have qUotcd in iny first ar- 
gument. It oocm's at page 420, and is as fol- 
lows : 

" Altogether,' the state of llie commercial 

• world since the war, clearly shows that some- 
' THLNG ELSK is nccessary to the continued increase 
' of wealth, besidtcs an increase in the means of 
' producing." 

Now, you will observe, that something else is 
hero admitted as wanting to be iittached to pro- 
duction, in order to render it efficient for the piu-- 
pose of forming v/ealth. This " something else" 
I will now attach to the word " production" and 
by means of another passage from the same 
•work. It occurs in the 1st Chapter of tlic 7th 
Section : — 

" It will be found, I believe, true, that all the 
' great results in political economy, respecting 
' wealth, depend upon proportions ; and it is 
' from overlooking this most iinj)ortant truth that 
' so many errors have pnv:illcd in the prediction 

• of consequences, that nations have sometimes 
' been enriched when it was expected they would 
' be impoverished, and impoverished when it was 
' expected they would be enriched ; and thai such 

• contradictory opinions have occasionally jirevail- 
' ed respecting the most eftective encouragements 

• to the increase of wealth. But there is no part 
' of the whole subject where the efficacy of pro. 
' PORTIONS in t)ic production of wealth is so stri- 
' kingly exemplified as in tlie division of landed 
' and otlier pro|)erty, and wiicie it is so very obvi- 
' ous that a division to a certain extent must be 
' beneficial, and beyond a certain extent prejudi- 

• cial, to the increase of wealth." 

On putting the argument of the above passage 
to that of the former, regarding production, we 
have, I contend, the " something else" which was 
there admitted as wanting. The end at wliich 
wc arrive by these means is Proportionate Pro- 
duction, whicl), I submit to you, is the realiza- 
tion of the entire truth of tiic science of Social 
Economy, as regards the modification and ap- 
propriation of physical things by the labor of 
man, or the law of the formation of wealth : and, 
moreover, I submit to you, that thin law has 
formed tlie binding power of my constructive ar- 
gument, from the first combination of mailer in 
whicli it originated, througliout the entire of its 
succeeding BcricB. 



It is desirable that I should call j'our attention, 
at this stage of my argument, to the manner in 
which my preceding course of reasoning applies to 
■\ very important, and which I have before noticed 
as forming a very perplexing question, in the sci- 
ence of Political Economy. The question to 
which I allude is the effect produced on a coun- 
fry by absentee expenditure. It was shown, in 
my first argument, that they who advocate the 
free principle of commerce are necessarily led to 
the conclusion that absentee expenditure is ad- 
vantageous to a country, or enriches it. It was 
shown, moreover, that this conclusion, when 
viewed in its great practical character, had ap- 
peared so contrarj' to truth as to induce its rejec- 
tion, even by those who are advocates for the 
princijile of freedom from whicli it emanates, Emd 
who thus have exhibited the unphilosophical ex- 
ample of men propounding and adhering pertina- 
ciously to premises, when, on account of the 
manifestly false nature of their conclusions, they 
have been led to abandon them, although they are 
legitimate issues. Thus 1he question of absentee 
expenditure stands at the present moment an un- 
solved problem, or, in fact, a stumbUng-block in 
the state of the science. 

Now, I contend, that by the foregoing course 
of argument it is rendered apparent, that absen- 
tee expenditure abstracts capital from a countr)', 
and, consequently, diminishes the fund for main- 
taining its people. If a country should be found 
to possess superabundant capital, that is, such a 
great general and well-adjusted supply of com- 
modities as is 7nore than sufficient to sustain all 
its ovv^n people well, in that ease absentee expen- 
diture might be indulged in ; but, even then, only 
up to a given degree or jiroportion, wiiich degree 
or proportion is equal to, or indicated by, the 
ainouni, of superabmidant capital. 

'l"he stale of facts thus appertaining to the 
question of absputec expenditure is so ajiparent 
as to have forced a recognition from writers, who, 
notwithstanding, have been, and have continued 
to be, advocates of the free principle. Thus Mr. 
P. Scrope, in his work on Political Economj', 
page 395, lias treated this question in accordance 
with the view which I have now contended for. 
The passage is as follows : 

" The Irisli absentee can only liavc his rent 
' reimued in the shape of food. There is no 
secondary inlervening process whatever ; and 
' the more food is in this way sent out of the 
' country, the less, of course, remains behind to 
' su])port and give employment to its inhabitants. 
' If these were all fully fed and employed, no 
' harm would result from the ex|)ortation of food, 
' as is the case, for example, with some parts of 
' North America. JJul so long us the people of 
' any country are, as in Ireland. 1>vU half-em- 
' i)loyed and half-fed, so long to cx|)ort food from 
' tiience will be to take away the means existing 
' in the country for setting them to work and 
' improving Iheir condition." 

It follows, Ihertfore, that Ihe question of ab- 
sentee expenditure, even if viewed in ils separate 
or isolated character, allbrd ample matter for an- 
nulling the princi|)le of free trade. It cstabHshes, 
bcj'omi the reach of doubl, the necessity of ob- 
serving the law of degree or proportion in the for- 
mation of nalionai weuitli. 



General Causes of Distress. 



71 



ARGUMENT SECOND. 
Part II. 
Having proceeded thus far upon my investiga- 
tion of the subject-matter propounded in your 
Book of Instructions, I now submit to you that 
the evidence which I have adduced, is sufficient 
to place beyond doubt the causes of the distressed 
condition of the great class of the people whose 
case is under consideration, and also of distress 
and destitution generally. 

The principle of competition having been shown 
to be a principle of evil, it then becomes apparent, 
that this great primary cause must operate by a 
variety of effects, which, in their turn, become 
causes also. The matter, therefore, which has 
issued from my examination of the nature and 
effects of the primary cause, is appUcable to the 
category which stands at the head of this mquiry, 
in the following manner : 

It solves the first question, by showing that the 
distress IS occasioned in part by the diminution 
of demand for labor, arising from a diminished 
demand for the articles on which it is employed. 
It solves the second question, by ^howing that 
the distress arises, in a degree, froni, a substitu- 
tion of power-looms for hand-looms. 

It solves the third, by showing that it must 
have arisen, in a degree also, from the importa- 
tion of foreign commodities. 

The fourth question, being analogous to that 
preceding it, is solved, therefore, by the same 
matter. 

With regard to the great mat-ter contained in 
the fifth question, I submit tliat it has been shown, 
that, in the event of foreign competition taking 
place in the great agricultural production of corn, 
the effect would be an infliction of injury upon 
capital in general, or the public fund, in the 
first place, this injury would be sustained by ag- 
ricultural capital ; in the next, by all other capital 
connected with, or dependent upon, agricultural 
capital ; and then the labor thus relinquished or 
displaced, would be forced into competition with 
all other labor, whereby strength would be added 
to the cause of the evil deplored. 

Touching the sixth question— the resumption 
of cash payments — I have not treated upon it at 
all, being under the conviction that it had better 
be left until the truth of all the great previous 
questions shall have been acknowledged. I say 
fremous questions, because I hold tliat the mat- 
ter of currency, or money, sliould never be sought 
to be made a cause, but should be kept in its just 
natural position, which is, in every instance, an 
effect. I will, therefore, merely acquaint you 
with the line of argument which I -should feel 
called upon to maintain as a correct issue of the 
evidence already adduced, if I were proceeding 
to argue the question up to proof. It is this : — 
The object being an increase of capital, — that, 
in every instance where a paper currency is sub- 
stituted for a currency of metal, that is, an un- 
solid for a sohd constituent, — credit in the place 
of capital, — the effect is a destruction of value or 
capital. This is brought about by an infraction 
of the law of proportion as applied to production. 
For one man being enabled to get possession of 
the capita] or solid matter of another, merely by 
being pledged to account for it whenever a de- 



mand is made upon him, the fact instantly in 
operation is, that the capital so acquired is di- 
verted into another channel, or exchanged, the 
newly formed production entering into confliction 
or competition with production in another quarter. 
Thus degree, or that correctly-adjusted jroportion 
which ought to subsist between the supply and 
demand of all commodities, is broken, and injury 
in general inflicted. 

As regards the seventh question, or the effects ^ 
of taxation, — it appears to me that all particular 
treatment of it may properly be omitted for the 
present, as it will be evident that the matter re- 
quired to solve it must, of necessity, be formed by 
the correct working out of the more comprehen- 
sive questions upon v.'hich I have already treated. 
Should premises, deductions, and conclusions re- 
specting the greater question of the law of the 
formation of capital be agreed upon, those respect- 
ing the smaller question, or taxation, will merge 
in the greater, and tliercby be easily &ilved. I 
shall, however, advert to this question in my third 
or remedial argument. 

To the matter bearing iijjon the eighth ques- 
tion, or that of the increase of the number of the 
people without a proportional increase in the de- 
mand for their labor, I am bound to invite your 
most particular consideration. In the course of 
my first, or objective argument, it was made ap- 
parent by the bare matter of fact, without any 
exercise of the reasoning faculty whatever, — that 
the degree of the increase of capital has been, 
during a series of ages, far greater than the de- 
gree oi^ the increase of population. It was there 
sliown, by a simple statement of authenticated 
facts, that the result of the rate of increase of 
population in England, during the long period of 
seven centuries and a half, is not quite equal to 
lialf the nmnbcr whicli would arise from the 
slowest rate of progression, or the arithmetical, 
which Malthus has assigned as the law of the 
formation of capital. While on the other hand, 
the authenticated statement of facts as regards 
the formation of capital, proves an increase in a 
degree far greater than would result from the 
quickest rate of progression, or the geometrical, 
which the same author has assigned as applicable 
to the increase of population. The facts, there- 
fore, taken by themselves, necessarily compel a 
reversal of these rates of increase, and also with 
subtraction on the one side and addition on the 
other; for they show tliat the arithmetical rate of 
progression is rather more than twice too rapid 
for tlie actual increase of population ; and also, 
that the geomelrical rate is not sufficiently rapid 
for the facts of the increase of capital. 

Now, on taking a survey of such a state of 
facts, and seemg that notwithstanding the greater 
proportional increase of capital, there is the ex- 
istence of distress and destitution, the conclusion 
inevitably arrived at is against some principle in 
operation as aftecting capital. For if it hi thus 
true, that capital has been formed in a degree so 
greatly exceeding the increase of population, des- 
titution can be accounted for in no other way 
than by imputing it to a mismanagement, or 
want of due regulation of the method of forming 
and preserving capital. In truth, there is no 
other ground remaining on which an argument 
can rest. I submit, then, that my line of reason- 



72 



Political ^Economy. 



ino" on the law of the fomiation of capital, solves 
the question, and obviates all the difficulty which 
the remarkable state of facts here presents. It 
shows that the good inherent in the nature of 
thincrs has been turned fi-om its course, by the in- 
troduction of a bad principle into tl>e method of 
appropriatinor ; this bad principle is that of com- 
petition, set in motion by a varict}' of causes, by 
which a vast destruction of capital has been con- 
stantly effected, and in addition, the beneficial 
principle of difFasiveness counteracted. With 
regard then to the great and important question 
now under review, there is no foundation for the 
matter of it being entertained at all in the man- 
ner in which it stands in this inquiry ; for the 
implication evidently rests upon tliat numerous 
class of the people who are poor and destitute, 
charging them with the infringement of the great 
moral law of prudence. It imputes to them the 
crime of having indulged in tlic procreation of 
their species, under circumstances which render 
it impossible that their offspring can be maintain- 
ed. It has been shown that the matter of this 
allegation is wholly false ; and hence I submit to 
you, that this branch of the subject ought to be 
omitted from every similar inquiry upon which 
it may hereafter be necessary to enter. The at- 
tention should altogether be diverted from the 
principle of the increase of population, and di- 
rected to that of the formation, preservation, and 
diffusion of capital. 

As to the ninth question, or " the state of things 
which affects the rate of wages," it will be evi- 
dent that this is comprehended in the one great 
subject which has been so mucli discussed, that 
of capital. It will be seen, that the rate of wa- 
ges must depend upon the proportion wliicli subsists 
between the supi)ly of labor and the supply of 
capital, or the demand for labor. Whatever cir- 
cimistance operates an increase in tlie supply of 
labor, without a corresponding or preceding in- 
crease of capital, or that which is to support la- 
bor having been produced, must, of necessity, di- 
minish, in one quarter or another, tiie rate of wa- 
ges. And, on the contrary, wliatever circum- 
stance operates an increase in the su[ip]y of capi- 
tal in a proportion greater than the siq)j)ly of la- 
bor, necessarily elevates or raises tiie rate of wa- 
ges in some quarter. Witii regard then to the 
application of these ])rineipl('H to the present in- 
quiry, I contend tJiat T iiave shown that the ab- 
sence of demand for hibor or wag(^s in many in- 
stances, and the low rate of demand for it, or low 
wages, in other instances, arise from a wrong 
course of action having been pursuctl as regards 
the formation of capital. 

Upon entering on the consideration of the man- 
ner in wliicii my argument is applicable to tiie 
most i)nportant branch of the intpiiry contained 
in the tenth and last <|uestion, namely, that of 
moral causes and state, I beg to invite your at- 
tention, in the first ])lace, to tlic fact of my liav- 
ing lK!cn under the necessitj' of assigning the e.xist- 
ing destitution and misery to the Operation of a 
bad moral or social j)rinei|)lc. At the earliest 
stage of my argument, or tliat wlieri^ social ac- 
tion was first entered upon, it was seen tliat all 
advancement, beyond lliat of liic rudest kind, 
derived its origin from a principle of trust or de- 
penUgnco. 



The adoption of social action necessarily in- 
volved the quitting a state of freedom, and the 
entering into a bound state, or a state of compact. 
Thus when we speak of such a state we use the 
word " tie." We say a " social tic." If man had 
resolved on continuing in a free state, that is,rc- 
lying merely on the efforts of his own labor, re- 
fusing all connexion with the labor of others by 
means of the division and sub-division of em- 
ployment, his condition must have remained that 
of uncultivated rudeness and barbarism. But a 
law of his nature instigated a different course, 
and opened to him a more clicering and beautiful 
prospect. It urged him to proffer and to accept as- 
sistance, and to enter into social communitm witli 
his fellow-man, so that, bj' united effort, the dor- 
mant matter of nature might be developed and 
enjoyed. Thus it follows, that in a system of 
social action there is no such principle as that of 
freedom without consent of others existing ; but 
there is tliat which is far better. There is in the 
nature of things a sufficiency of matter; and 
there would have remained, but for the derange- 
ment made by man, a sufficiency of right to its 
enjoyment, or an avoidance of that lamentable 
disproportion which is seen to subsist in the pos- 
session of property'. 

The principle, therefore, whicli a conjoined 
state of facts calls into operation, is that of unit- 
ing the good and interest of another with the good 
and interest of self. There is no such thing re- 
cognised in the truth of social science, as that of 
a single or selfish fact ; but, on the contrary, 
every fact possesses a relationship to some other 
fact. As there are iico jiersons concerned in ev- 
ery exchange, so tliere is a double capacity in 
every social fact. That is, suj)ply l)y itself is 
nothing as regards exchange or social value, but 
when conjoined with demand, it is the thing re- 
quired ; so demand implies the existence of another 
tiling of equal property to itself. On viewing 
tills state of things it will be apparent tliat the 
adjective, free, must be altogether excluded, and 
if there should be found a disposition in the agents 
of such a system to break from the laws whieii 
are essential for promoting true and harmonious 
action, or public good, it would he found ncces- 
sary to interiinse a regulating power, in order to 
preserve, as much as possihk-, integrity of action. 
Now they who have advocated tiie free sys- 
tem <jf exchange, or " free trade," liave altoge- 
tlier neglected to marji the great mor.-il condition 
annexed to tlic power ordained to be acquired by 
the labor of man. They liave viewed the sub. 
jeet merely in its single character, or that ol self. 
At the commencement, and throughout the sc- 
ries, they ought to have ke])t in vie\i' two persons 
and two things conjoined, whereas they have 
omitted one of each ; hence in llicir calculation 
of facts tliey liave omitted just half the subject, 
or left out one multi])lier. 

The princij)le here oppugned has been no where 
more succinctly cxjiresscd, than in a work enti- 
tled " The l{esults of Machinery." At page 
1H7 it stands thus : — " Tlie truth is, every innn 
' tries to get as- much as he can for his own la- 
' bor, and to pay as litllc as he can for the labor 
' of others." Now, when the sanction and po- 
tency of freedom is attached to the matter thus 
expressed, wc liuvc the principle set clearly forth. 



Palse and True Laws of Social Action. 



73 



A man is to wish and to endeavor to have the 
good in the greatest possible degree "for liimself ; 
but he is to wish to assist in bestowing the good 
in the smallest possible degree on another. Here 
is exhibited the whole of the getting principle, 
but none of the giving. It will be seen that the 
issues of this principle must be on every side 
strife and destruction ; for the second predicate 
of the proposition must inevitably destroy the 
power implied by the first, because the actor in 
the case is to become subject to the prescribed 
law of confliction, that is, every other man is to 
endeavor that he alsp shall acquire as little of the 
good as possible. It is — " his hand against eve- 
ry man, and every man's hand against him." 

In my first, or objective argument, I have 
brought under notice a very important passage 
of the " Wealth of Nations," containing the 
first principle, or germ of the free-trade system ; 
and in order to show the analogy which subsists 
between the matter of this passage and that upon 
which I have just commented, I will requote it 
in this place ; — 

" Every individual is continually exerting him- 
' self to find out the most advantageous employ- 
' ment for wliatever capital he can command. — 
' It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of 
-' the society, that he has in view. But the study 
' of his own advantage naturally, or rather ne- 
' cessarily, leads him to prefer that emplo^anent 
' which is most advantageous to the society." 

Thus it is asserted, that the study and indul- 
gence of self-love is in every instance naturally 
or necessarily tributary to social or general good. 
I was led to remark also, tliat almost every wri- 
ter had avoided treating of the moral nature of 
this great question, but that one author* had 
marked well the moral issues of the free princi- 
ple. He, adhering to the rules of logical in- 
duction, maintained, in their regular course, 
deductions from adopted premises. He did not 
pause for the purpose of considering and obtain- 
ing a correct view of the nature of the end to 
which these were leading him ; but, bad and im- 
moral as the conclusion is, he has, nevertheless, 
evinced his fidelity to principle, by adopting it 
without hesitation, having argued that covetous- 
ness is the greatest of the social virtues, which, 
if the premises of the free principle be granted, 
cannot be disallowed. 

At page 11 of your Book of Instructions, you 
advert to the moral and intellectual condition of 
the hand-loom weavers, acknowledging the supe- 
rior importance of these branches of inquiry, and 
that not as regarding themselves alone, but as re- 
garding also the rest of the community. Now I 
submit, that although a correct view should bo 
acquired of the moral and intellectual state ; yet 
it would be impossible to ascertain the means by 
which this state is influenced, without arriving 
at a knowledge of the moral condition of the rest 
of the community, the issues of which bear upon 
and affect the circumstances of the hand-loom 
weavers. I have shown that their physical con- 
dition is dependent on the actions of others. It 
is true, indeed, that without a due degree of in- 
dustry and order on their part, the fruit of labor 
or supply would not be properly forthcoming ; but 



* M'CHlloch. 



then it has been shown, that the power acquired 
by supply without a moral incentive on the part 
of others of the community, to insure the contin- 
uance of demand, becomes deteriorated or per- 
haps destroyed. It follows, therefore, that the 
great object of this Commission, when it enters 
upon a consideration of the important subject of 
moral and intellectual state and causes, should be 
that of declaring the right principle of' action as 
applicable to the dealings of the entire communi- 
ty. This great point being acknowledged in the 
first instance, and acted upon in the second, im- 
proved physical state would follow, as effect from 
cause. But, I contend, so long as a bad princi- 
ple of general action — that of confliction or com- 
petition, be upheld as a good one, so long must 
physical want and destitution continue its devas- 
tating inroads into the strength and well-being of 
the community ; for the adoption of bad in the 
place of good, puts a false front upon moral in- 
centive, and converts the efforts of intellect into 
so many weapons of destruction. 

It will be obvious that the argument which I 
have here advanced, must be altogether subordi- 
nate to the subject of reUgious influence : for, 
under whatever circumstances of privation and 
trial the suffering, parties in this, or in any other 
case, may be placed, the power derivable from 
this source should be most earnestly and most 
perseveringly sought after, as affording the only 
sure and perfect rule either of action or of sub- 
mission. 

Upon reviewing the entire matter of argument 
which I have now laid before you, and on con- 
templating the very extended range which I have 
presumed to attach to the principle established 
by it, prescribing a course of social or commer- 
cial action so different from that propugned by 
most modern writers, and upheld by the greater 
number of modern legislators — it would appear 
as though it possessed a claim to be ranked as a 
discovery in political science. Such, however, is 
not the fact, it being entirely deduced from, and 
heaee to be referred to, the great doctrine which 
has been delivered to mankind by the Supreme 
Being in his Christian revelation. This I will 
now show. 

Our Lord, on conveying it to us, has commen- 
ced by a great declaratory proposition, founded 
on his knowledge of the nature and attributes of 
God. He has enjoined, as a primary act, the en- 
tire devotion of the faculties of the soul to God, 
as being the source and centre of all goodness. — 
Then, arguing by the method of analogical rea- 
soning, he has urged the carrying on, or the adapt- 
ation to social action, of the desire or principle 
thus imbibed. This re- conjunction of the lapsed 
moral of the creature, with the perfect moral of 
the Creator, he has established by the great com- 
mandment — Love thy neighbor" as thyself. He 
has declared this injunction to be so comprehen- 
sive in its nature as to be co-extensive with the 
agency of man, for he has added, that upon it 
hangs ALL the law. When treating of the mate- 
rial tilings of the world, and thus opening to us 
the science of Social or Political Economy, he 
has urged us to — Seek first the kingdom of God ; 
and he has then assured us that all these things 
shall be added. That is, let your kingdom, or 
your principle of government — including of course 



74 



Political Economy. 



the individual and the general — be like the king- 
dom, or the governing principle of God. Thus, 
love or goodness is declared to be the great social 
law, enjoining co-operation, and resulting in har- 
monious action. Then, labor directed by this 
law, its fruit or effect would be like the law, that 
is, good. Good moral preceding — good ph3'sical 
issuing. In carrying on the argument through- 
out the numerous divisions and subdivisions of 
labor or of employment, we should then have 
UNITY of principle, but diversity of operation ; the 
MATTER, of the diversity being suhject to the mo- 
ral of tlie unity. When our minds are induced 
to dwell on the full meaning of tliat assurance of 
our Lord, where, treating of the material things 
of the world, he has said, all these things shall 
be added unto you, for God knowctli that ye have 
need of these tilings — what a majestic and all- 
benevolent predicate we discern attached to his 
simple though great proposition ! He has said — 
Seek to do right in the first instance — and then 
comes the boundless and beneficent sequence — 
every thing that the earth contains shall be at 
your command. Develop and appropriate you 
may, but let social love, truth, or justice, be the 
cruide of every development and of every appro- 
priation. In pr»portlon as this is observed there 
will result good — insomuch as it is unobserved or 
deviated from, there will result evil. Thus by a 
simple tracing out of cause and effect, we arrive 
at the origin of the life and death of states. As 
the combined operation of just action, social love, 
or goodness, is the cause of the one ; so the com- 
bined operation of unjust action, selfishness, or 
evil, is tbc cause of the other. 

I now bring my constructive argument tO a 
conclusion — I submit to you, that, by it, an af- 
firmative proposition is established. It having 
been proved that union or conjunction, in opposi- 
tion to confhction, competition or disjunction, is 
the true principle of social or commercial action ; 
hence it follows, that the free principle must be 
rejected, and a p-inciplc of regulation adopted. 



ARGUMENT THIRD. 

Method — Co7-ollaritive. Proposition — Adaptive. 

Part I. 

Having shown by the matter of my first and 
second argument, the nature of the false, and 
also the true principle of commerc(% it now de- 
volves upon nic to show, in addition, the ■icthod 
whereby tlie true principle may be ada|)led fo, or 
engrafted on, a .'jysteni of .social action, wbich is 
bfi"ng imiicllcd, in tlie greater degree, by the power 
of till! false i)rineiple. 

The nature of this definition having been de- 
scribed in your Book of Instructions, I will quote 
it again here : it occurs at page 29, and is as fol- 
lows : — " To require every person who proposes 
' a remedy to explain in detail both the object to 
' be effected, the means to be used, and the prn. 
' cess Ijy whicii the j)ri)])osed means arc to \no- 
' (luce the coutcmpluted eircct. 'I'liese means 
• should be staled with the fullness and jirecision 
' of a law ; so that, if the suggestion were 
' adopted, the law for effecting it. would he ready." 

And again, " To inquire into tlie |»r()bable ef- 
' fects of any proposed remedy, not only on the 
' bruncii of trade for wliosc relief it may be pro- 



' posed, but also on the community in general ; 
' stating especially what class of persons, and 
' how, and to what extent, would be peculiarly 
' benefited or injured by it. And where the 
• proposed measure, if adopted, would extensively 
' affect the whole communit}'." 

Such being the nature and extent of the ques- 
tion to be elucidated, I will endeavor to frame 
my course of argument in such a manner as to 
afford a clear explication of the matter thus de- 
scribed. 

In the first place, then, as the argument wliich 
I am about to construct is a dependent one, or an 
issue of a preceding proposition, I must, of neces- 
sity, take the preceding proposition as granted to 
me. The premises thus assumed, consist in the 
principle established by my last or affirmative ar- 
gument : and in order to work out a correct in- 
duction, it will be requisite that I here capitulate 
the main features of my affirmative proposition. 

Now, the affirmative proposition which is to 
form the basis of my present argument, was con- 
structed by the conjoined operation of two dis- 
tinct powers, the one moral, the other physical. 
I sliowcd that all physical things designed for 
the service of man, had been jdaced by a benefi- 
cent Creator under the control of the labor of 
man ; and again, that this powerful instrument, 
labor, was efficient in proportion as it was di- 
rected by, or worked in unvarying compliance 
with, a respect for the rights of all men, or the 
great moral law of justice. 

Thus was shown the necessity for the power 
of the good moral law precedixo the fact of ben- 
eficial physical development. It was .seen that 
the physical matter thus acquired, was known 
generally under one appellation, that of capital, 
this term embracing in its meaning all the ex- 
changeable commodities, or matter of value, ex- 
isting among anj' given community of people. — 
These commodities or productions having become 
multifarious, by reason of the members having 
consented to assist each other hy frequent divis. 
ions and subdivisions of employment, thus con- 
stituting mutual and general dependence, it was 
shown, that the law necessary to be observed, 
both in the commencing and in the continued 
development of these numerous matters of pro- 
duction, is the law of proportion, resulting from 
the moral law of justice urging for practice tiic 
preservation, wherever necessary, of the great 
[iliysieal law of demand, demand being the cause 
of value. 

It will be obvious that (he end required to be 
found by the question now under considerution, 
is the formation of nt.w or additio.nai. capital, 
taken in its most extended or aggregate charac- 
ter. Population being on tiie one side, the labor- 
ing, the consuming, and the enjoying power ; and 
Capital on the other, being the fund for remune- 
rating labor, for consumption, and for cjijoyment. 
The relief or remedy sought can, therefore, be at- 
taiiu:d only by tlu^ increase or enlargement of tlic 
fund ujion the ]>rinci|ile of realizing the greatest 
degree of general jiroduction or capital, in order 
that the great design may be fulfilled of preserv- 
ing enjoyment to those who are already in jios- 
session of it, and of raising those into tlie pos- 
session of enjoyment whose state is unduly dc- 
pressed. 



- All Action on Industry should be Conservative. 



75 



Now, in order to effect this object, I contend, 
that all PRESENT DEMAND, or the subsisting rela- 
tions of trade, in whatever quarter they may have 
sprung up, should be continued, for the purpose 
of preserving existing capital, and that changes 
or improvements should be regulated in conform- 
ity v/ith the degree of the general increase which 
may arise in future from existing capital, that 
is, the aggregate of the accruing profit. For 
poverty and destitution have arisen by reason of 
our having neglected to keep in operation the 
great law of demand ; that is, changes, or im- 
provements, as they have been falsely called, have 
been effected, which have not been warranted by 
the state of the general capital ; the proportion of 
change having exceeded the proportion of increase 
of capital which should have been employed in 
effecting the change. 

It has been rightly held that capital is the 
cause of improvements, but, unhappily, the con- 
verse of the proposition has been held also, and 
is in high estimation at the present period, name- 
ly, that improvements of the powers of producing 
necessarily create capital, which is false, the for- 
mation of capital being dependent upon another 
law, which is the great law of propoJlion as ap- 
plicable to production in general. 

In conformity with the course of reasoning 
which I have advanced, it is my duty to contend 
that a remedy for the existing evil, or poverty, is 
not to be found in any backward or retrogressive 
movement. Thus, if we take it as a matter 
granted, that the hand-loom weavers have sus- 
tained injury by the substitution of mechanical 
power for manual labor, nevertheless, injury in gen- 
eral would be inflicted, and the disease of poverty 
aggravated, by framing a law which should stop 
the use which is at present made of mechanical 
power. The evil of poverty has arisen from 
changes having bcea adopted without regard hav- 
ing been paid to there being sufHcient capital in 
existence, or a fund beforehand wherewith to com- 
pensate the hand-loom weavers for the depriva- 
tion of their employment, or for the encroach- 
ment made upon its value ; so, the making ano- 
ther change under similar circumstances of gen- 
eral deficiency, would be adding force to the evil, 
though it might take effect in another direction. 
Again, if we take the case of those employed in 
any home manufacture, having been injured by 
the cessation of demand for their commodity on 
account of the introduction for sale of a similar 
commodity from a foreign country, so, I have to 
contend likewise, that a remedy would not be 
found in a law which should put a slop to such a 
fctate of trade. For, in that case, a cessation of 
demand ensuing, injury would be inflicted upon 
those of our own people who are employed in 
making conmiodities, wherewith to exchange or 
• purchase the foreign commodities, an injury of a 
similar nature occurring also to the people of the 
foreign state. And although it might appear 
that such a law would be beneficial to a particu- 
lar class of manufacturers, yet such appearance 
would be deceptive as applicable to the aggre- 
gate ; the fact being, that injury would be in- 
flicted in another direction, on account of a de- 
struction of capital happening, which would not 
be compensated for by any advantage accruing 
to the community in any other quarter ; but, on 



the contrary, the general capital, or fund, would 
sustain injury ©r diminution. 

The course of argument which has been addu- 
ced, will apply to the question of a community 
proposing to derive benefit by the abolition of any 
tax. To elucidate this, I will suppose two great 
cases as examples. The first shall be a relinquish- 
ment, either voluntary or compulsory, of the na- 
tional debt, by those who have a lien for it, upon 
the general capital of the community. On view- 
ing such a question, we have to consider the facts 
of a great number of the people having the right 
of demand, by virtue of an agreement or compact, 
to a certain quantity of commodities during each 
year, the amount of which I will take to be of the 
value of 30 millions of pounds sterling. Now if 
the right of these persons be either abrogated or 
surrendered, a cessation of demand would instant- 
ly ensue for all the various commodities which 
their habits of consumption have induced the 
production of ; and, I contend, that this cessa- 
tion of demand would bring about a derangement 
of that adjusted proportion between the supply 
and demand of all commodities, which is the 
foundation of all value ; consequently injury 
would be inflicted on the general capital of the 
community, and hencfe poverty and distress in- 
creased. 

The next case shall be that of disbanding an 
army. I will suppose that the people of a country 
have got together 100,000 men for the purpose of 
carrying on war, and that war being ended, it is 
proposed to dispense with the services of these 
men, and thus to save to the people the expense, 
that is to get rid of the burden, of maintaining 
them. I contend, that there is no law by which 
benefit can he derived, that is, the capital of the 
community increased, by any such procedure or 
saving as that now adverted to ; but, on the con- 
trary I contend, tliat injury in general in this se- 
cond instance, as in tlie first, will ensue, and from 
the same cause, namely, a falling off of demand 
for the various commodities which have formed 
the matter of consumption of these men, which 
falling ofl" of demand would act and re-act 
throughout the entire circle of the capital of the 
community ; and in addition, the evil now addu- 
ced would be increased by the labor thus let loose 
or relinquished, being forced into competition with 
the general labor of the community, and this ta- 
king place upon the basis of a capital which has 
just received injury or decrease ; so a proportion- 
ate diminution must take place in tlie general 
rate of earnings or the wages of labor. 

The only true and just method of acting in 
either of the two instances adduced, is that of chan- 
ging the character of the facts from public con- 
tributions or burdens into a state of demand not 
arising out of a principle of taxation. This should 
be effected by appropriating a portion of the an- 
nual increase of the capital of the community, 
or the general profit, to liquidating the claims of 
the parties, and thereby preserving, as entire as 
possible, a continuity of demand, and hence a 
conservation of value, extending over the general 
body of capital. 

If the questions which I have just adverted, to, 
be viewed through the medium of moral law, the 
course of action which I have adduced and urged 
for practice, will appear to be in exact conformity 



6 



Political Economy. 



with right or justice ; for it should not be that 
man shoxld possess the power of deriving benefit 
hj the infliction of injury. TJie design impressed 
by an all-wise Creator, upon the modification and 
appropriation of all material things by the labor 
of man, and hence upon the laws which it is the 
duty of man to make respecting them, is that of 
educing good ; thus the beneficial effect consists 
in awarding or bestowing these things upon each 
other to the greatest degree compatible with jus- 
tice or the rights of all ; and it will follow, there- 
fore, that the turning round upon and against 
each other, for tiie purpose of encroaching upon 
or curtailing each other's enjoyments, sliould be 
avoided. It is true that a tax may have had its 
origin in an unwise design, or have been institu- 
ted for a bad purpose ; but this feature does not 
change the operation of facts. They were adopt- 
ed by consent of the community, consequently, 
they should be held as being the act of an asso- 
ciated people, and regard be paid to them as 
such. 

Thus, in the operations of truth, no backward 
or retrogressive movement is contemplated or pro- 
vided for. All is progressive or constructive. . If 
it were otherwise, a law must have been made 
which should have provided for evil, that is, should 
have given to it a sanction, or bestowed upon it 
the high privilege of imperishableness or perpetui- 
ty : now this would have been contrary to the na- 
ture of an agency, which possesses the combined 
character of perfection and omnipotence. Hence, 
on treating of the science of social or political 
economy, we find that mean, ungenerous, selfish, 
and cruel action, is, by a wise and inevitable law, 
made to act against itself, or to destroy its own 
constitution ; while on the other hand, it is to gen- 
erosity, honorable action, social love, or truth, that 
the power of construction, conservation, together 
with the exalted privilege of enduring, is assigned. 

In corroboration of the course of argument 
which I have just advanced upon the great and 
important question of remedies, I find that a sim- 
ilar conviction of the necessity of preserving the 
operation of the great law of demand, was enter- 
tained by Malthus, as will be evident by the fol- 
lowing passages in his work on the " Principles 
of Political Economy." Thus at ]>. 41H, there 
is as follows, and which I have quoted before : — 

" Willi regard to these causes (alludmg lo the 
' causes of distress) such as the cultivation of our 
' poor soils, our restrictions uj)on commerce, and 
' our weiir/it. of litxdiioii, I llnd it very diificult 
' to admit a theory o^" our distress so inconsistent 
' with the theory of our coinj»arativc prosperity. 
' Whilst tiie greatest quantity of our j)oor lands 
' were in cidtivation ; while tliere were more than 
' usual restrictions upon commerce, and very lit- 
* tic corn imported, and lolille taxalioii wa.i at 
' its hight, the country confessedly increased in 
' wealth, with a rapidity never known before. 
' Since some of our ])oorest lands have been 
' thrown out of cultivation ; since the peace has 
' removed many of the restrictions upon our com- 
' mcrce, and, notwithstanding our corn laws, wc 
'have imported a great quantity of corn ; and 
' since Hrvnitccii inillions of taxes haiui been 
' taken off' from the people, ivr. have experienced 
' the greatest degree of distress, hotk among 
< capitalists and laborers." 



Again, at page 424 : — " In the same manner, 
' if a portion of our capital be destroyed, and yet 
' the profits of the remainder are low, and accom- 
' panied with frequent losses, and a tendency to 
' emigrate, surely the great general laws of de- 
' mand and supply cannot more, clearly show us 
' that something else is wanted before we can 
' accumulate with effect. What is now wanted 
' in this country is an increased national reve- 
' nuc, — an increase in the exchangeable value 
' of the whole produce estimated in bullion, and 
' in the command of this bullion over labor. 
' When we have attained this, which can only 
' he attained by increased and steady profits, we 
' may then begin again to accumulate, and our ac- 
' cumulalion will then be effectual. But if in- 
' stead of saving from increased profits, we save 
^ from diminished expenditure ; if, at the very 
' time that the supply of commodities, compared 
' with the demand for them, clearl}' admonishes 
' us that the proportion of capital to revenue is 
' already too great, we go on saving from our 
' revenue to add still further to our capital, all 
' general principles concur in showing, that we 
' must of necessity be aggravating instead of al- 
' leviating our distresses." 

Again at page 435 : — " If the principles wliicli 
' I have laid down be true, it will certainly follow 
' that the sudden removal of taxes will often be 
' attended with very different efl^ects, particularly 
' to the laboring classes of society, from those 
' which have been generally expected. And an 
' inference may perhaps be drawn from this con- 
' elusion in favor of taxation. But the just in- 
' ference from it is, that taxes should never be im- 
' posed, nor lo a greater amount than the neccs- 
' sity of the case justifies, and particularly that 
' every effort should be made, consistently witii 
' national honor and secm'ity, to prevent a scale 
' of expenditure so great that it cannot proceed 
' without ruin, and cannot be stopped without 
' distress." 

Again, page 436 : — " There is every reason to 
' believe that the working classes of society would 
' be severely injured by attaining the object which 
' they seem so ardently to wish for. To those 
' who live upon fixed incomes, the relief from 
' taxation is a great and unmixed good ; to tho 
' mercantile and trading classes it is sometimes a 
' good and sometimes an evil, according to circum- 
' stances ; but to the working cla.sses, no taking 
' ofl' of taxes, nor any degree of cheapness of 
' corn, can compensate a want of demand for 
' labor. If the general demand for labor fail, 
' particular!)' if the failure be sudden, the laboring 
' classes will be wretched in the midst of cheap- 
' ncss ; if the demand for labor be considerable, 
' they will be comparatively rich in the midst of 
' darkness. When tliere is no demand for labor, 
' however low the j)ricc of food may be, the la- 
boring ' classes can only obtain it by cliarity." 

" To stale these facts is not to favor taxes, but 
' to give one of the strongest reasons against 
' them ; namely, that they are not only a great 
' evil on their first iini)osition, but that the at- 
' tempt to get rid of them afterwards is often 
' attended with fresh sufl'ering." 

Having argued as I have now done respecting 
tlic nature of the remedies which may be applied 
to the great uniount of dialrcsa under considera- 



The Remedy for Industrial Distress. 



77 



tion, the followmg important question arises-^ 
What prospect of relief or consolation is opened 
to hand-loom weavers under the view which has 
now been taken of their case ? In the first place, 
then, this consolatory view exists, namely, that 
if the community should resolve to adopt towards 
them the course of just action already traced out, 
the PRESENT state of the hand-loom lucavers will 
he their worst state. Lower than this they loill 
not descend. In the next place, a quicker or 
more abundant formation of capital in general 
ensuing, the proportion of demand as compared 
with the supply of the articles which are made by 
them, will be raised, which increase of demand 
will bring about a general advance in the rate of 
their earnings, whilst their own improved condi- 
tion will react upon the producers of other com- 
modities which themselves may demand ; and 
thus the improvement of circumstances, though 
slow, will be certain and general. The direct and 
visible proof of the successful operation of the 
course of action which I have now contended for, 
will be an increased rate of profit accruing to 
capital in general. 

It will be evident, however, that the policy now 
advocated, will require, on the part of the com- 
munity, the adoption and the exercise of princi- 
ples very different from those which have been 
recommended for practice by modern poUtical 
writers. It will require of those who have al- 
ready made advances in the accumulation of 
wealth, that, in future, they place a restraint upon 
their desire of gain, so that, they having much 
and abstaining from grasping more, those who 
have little may participate to the extent to which 
they are entitled. Thus it is necessary that 
greediness or covetousness be checked in tlie 
stronger, in order that the bounty of Providence 
may not be intercepted from the enjoyment of the 
weaker. It will require that the eager and exist- 
ing passion for great and unceasing change be 
repressed, and that improvements in physical 
things "be not attempted during a period of suffer- 
ing among any portion of the community; and 
that changes be patiently waited for, until their 
realization be warranted by a good state of cir- i 
cumstances as regards the entire community, that 
is, the existence of a real superabundance of capi- | 
tal. This would be acquiescing in the beautiful 
law of Providence, whereby it is ordained, that 
general improvement shall be tlie result, or the 
reward, of good general action, a state of things 
consequent, not antecedent. It will require that 
the doctrine of cheapness be understood and held 
in its true and abominable character. Now the 
real meaning of the word cheapness, is such an 
application or use of natwal material acqmsitions, 
as shall enable a portion of the things usually 
consumed by those who labor to be withheld from 
them, or saved, as it is called. Thus, the less 
that is given to the laborer for his consumption 
on the one hand, and on the other, the more effi- 
cient liis labor is made, the smaller will be the 
cost of production ; and then, the production be- 
ing procured at less cost, and the supply being 
stimulated, cheapness is the result. Thus the 
possessor of capital is urged to encourage inven- 
tion to the utmost of his power, and when, by the 
exercise of ingenuity, a method is found of sup- 
planting or dispensing with labor, the human 



agent is instantly discarded without consideration 
and without compassion. Labor then becomes 
disproportioned to capital, or superabundant as 
compared with capital. Urged by necessity, the 
laborer then profilers his sei'vice again to the pos. 
sessor of capital, wlio ofi^ers him smaller remune- 
ration, upon condition that he bestows for this 
diminished remuneration, a still larger portion of 
his toil. Thus the action is forced against the 
weaker party tvv'o ways ; the one, by the utmost 
diminution of his matter of consumption, and the 
otlier, liy the utmost pressure upon his ability to 
labor or to produce. The result of such a comse 
of cruelty is the much esteemed fact of cheap- 
ness. It is attempted, indeed, to conceal the 
character of the proceeding by asserting, that 
commodities so produced will come more within 
reach of the laboring classes themselves, and so 
enable them to be greater consumers. Now 
this, it is evident, is a false gloss, covering a hi- 
deous and most pernicious state of facts ; for as 
ALL commodities are procured by the instrumen- 
tality of labor, and as the course of action ad- 
verted to must of necessity be of equal and uni- 
versal application, that is, be fitted to extend it- 
self to ALL labor, so the assertion can have no 
foundation in truth, since it cannot be that a class 
or any general body can derive benefit by its own 
degradation. 

On viewing tlie doctrine of cheapness in tlie 
light in wliich I have now placed it, it will be 
seen, that here also tlie beautiful and all-pervading 
law of degree or proportion, must be carefully re 
garded ; for in maintaining that good and full 
remuneration of labor, that is, a high cost of pro- 
duction, is a state of facts beneficial to a com- 
munity, the argument must be viewed as being 
in subordination to the great law just adverted to, 
or the law of proportion. For as on the one side 
there is a degree far too low, so, on the other, 
there must be a degree far too high. The true 
point to be desired and to be attempted is this, — 
that the degice be kept as high as possible, regard 
beino- hnd to its being GENERAL, for then all 
classes would be partakers of the good educed. 
It IS to be disregarded of this importaiit part of 
the subject, that the lamentable and unjust ine- 
quality in the condition of man is to be attri- 
butad. 

The summary of my remedial argument will, 
therefore, be as follows : — In the first place, it 
excludes all action of a retrogressive nature, on 
account of its brmging about, in every instance, 
a decrease of value, or a diminution of the general 
fund or capital, and, consequently, aggravating 
instead of alleviating the general disorder or dis- 
tress. Having shown the necessity of preserving 
EXISTING capital in its present position or employ- 
ment, it establishes, in the next place, the neces- 
sity of affixing regulations to that which may be 
the offspring, that is, the increase of the present 
or existing capital. These regidations to be ap. 
plied to production in general, so as to adjust as 
accurately as possible the proportion of supply to 
demand, thus diminishing the great and destruc- 
tive power of competition. They will be appli- 
cable, whether the question be the increased in- 
troduction into the country of foreign commodi 
ties ; whether it be the increased employment 
of mechanical, and the consequent decreased 



78 



Political Economy. 



employment of manual power ; or, indeed, of | 
any other cause of competition whatever ; for it 
will be evident that the effect must be similar 
from whatever quarter its cause may spring«up. 
The course of action implied, therefore, is a con- 
tinuity of demand, as afliicting beneficially things 
present or existing ; and the observance of the 
great law of proportion as applicable to things 
future, or to the future employment of all labor 
upon the development of general production. 

On bringing tlie matter of my entire argument 
to a conclusion, it only remains for me to request 
your attention to the influence which its princi- 
ple is calculated to exercise upon the moral and 
physical condition and prospects of the hand- 
loom weavers, and also of the rest of the com- 
munity as inseparably connected wth them. It 
will be obvious tliat a very different state of things 
would be existing at present from that which 
really does exist, if the general faculty of labor, 
and the general faculty of thought, had been 
employed, heretofore, in obedience to the great 
law of our religion ; and it must be obvious, like- 
wise, that a most improved state of circumstances 
must ensue, if, hereafter, men would control their 
desires and regulate their actions in conformity 
with tlic spirit of this law. 

Probably, it may be said, that it is vain to ex- 
pect any such change or any such submission, 
since the law has been for ages fully and forcibly 
defined ; notwithstanding which, the greater part 
of the vast portion of mankind who have ac- 
quhed the power of property, have continued to 
gratify their own appetites and wishes In perform- 
ing the duty of administering, by their social ac 
lions, to the just support of others. In short, 
that they have consigned multitudes of their fel- 
low-beings to privations, suffering, and premature 
death, ratlier than forego the indulgence of their 
o\vn sensual desires. This, as a lamentable mat- 
ter of fact, must be admitted. Nevertheless, the 
truth remains unchanged and xwchangeable, and 
it is hi conformity with truth that laws should 
be made. 

It may be said again, that the portion of 
Bocial feeling and general action which legle. 
lative enactments can either Influence or coerce, 1 
must be small wlren compared with the entire or 
general mass. This must be admitted also ; but 
then, it must be conceded, on the other hand, 
tliat when treating on the subject of remedies, i 
every degree of advance from error is a degree of 
advance towards truth ; If acted upon, would be 
a. dhninution of evil, and an increase of good. If, 
therefore, the whole good cannot be attained, a 
part may be, and tliUs an approximation towards 
the end desired be eflectcd. 

When the obligations of public law, and the 
secret suggestions of conscience alike fall to 
briiig about tlie desired result, it will be manifest, 
that no other remedial resort remains, and that 
the suffering and injured parties must endure the 
pain of privation and destitutibn without a pros- 
pect of relief. And, as res))ect8 such a state of 
moral degradation and .turpitude, all that can be 
offered is, that each individual nuist finally rest 
upon the facts, of his own case, and bear in his 
person the conHcquences, which a rejection of the 
great covenants of tlic Cluistian law lias been 
declared to involve. 



[The case put into the Commission ended here, 
being signed by the Chairman, Committee, and 
Secretary of the Operative Weavers, and also by 
mc.] 



ARGUMENT THIRD. 
Part II. 
On recurring to the nature of the conclusion 
whlcli has been established, it wdl be evident that 
it is analogous to what most men who have re- 
flected much upon the subject, have delighted to 
contemplate and to predict, notwithstanding the 
diversity of opinion which may have existed 
among them, as to the means necessary to be 
observed for arriving at it. It is, that matter is 
so constituted by natural law as that its use, or 
right social adaptation, is ordained to fulfil the^ 
great purpose of general agreement or harmony. 
That although mankind may be divided into 
separate or distinct commmiities or nations, yet 
one principle of action is everywhere existent, 
rendering the interests of all people identical, and 
bringing all things in subserviency to the great 
purpose above mentioned, that of general benefit. 
It has been the object of my labors to show the 
course of action whereby this desired result may 
be attained, and it is pleasing to find a remarka- 
ble corroboration of the matter of my argument 
in the v/ritlngs of a man, who, it may be pre- 
sumed, never directed his attention, in any spe- 
cial manner, to the science of Political Economy. 
It is a man, however, whose spirit soared so far 
above the sphere of general human contempla- 
tion — who, by the power of an intuition unequal- 
led in the range of mere human intelligence, 
commnaded such an extensive view of moral and 
physical law, that the instance I am about to 
quote will not excite suii^rise. The author to 
whom I allude is .Shakspeare. In liis play of 
Trollus and Cressida, and in a speech made by 
Ulysses on the subject of the causes of the ill 
success attending the efforts of the Greeks against, 
Troy, the author selects out the two principles 
whose agency I have elucidated, and dwells with 
pecidlar force upon the operation of each. These 
are the good and the evil principle ; the one be- 
ing that of conjunction or union, the other that 
of disjunction, confliction, or competition. The 
delineation is minute, acciu-ate, and forcible, and 

iln the highest degree philosophical and beautiful, 
li occurs in the 3rd Scene of the 1st Act, and is 
as follows : 
" Troy, yet upon liis b.-usis, lia<l been down, 
Ami tlie great Hector's sword liad lack'd a master 
But for these instances. 

The specialilxj of rule halli been neglected : 
And look how many Grecian tents do stand 
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions. 
When that the general is not like the hive, 
To wlioin the foragers shiill all repair, 
What honey is expected ? Decree being viiardcd, 
The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. 
The heavens llieuiselves, the planets, and Oiia centre, 
Observe dkgrki:, priority, and place, 
Insisture, conrse, pboportion, season, form, 
Olfice, and custom, in all line of order : 
And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol, 
In noble emiiu'nce enlhron'd and sphered 
Amidst the other ; whose med'ciuable eye 
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil. 
And j)0sta, like the commandment of a kins, 
Sans cheek, to good and bad. But when the planets, 
In evil mixture, to disorder wander, 
What plagues, aud what portcals '. what mutiny ! 



The Necessity of Order— Moral Education. 



79 



Wliat raging of the sea ! shaking of earth ! 
Commotions in the winds 1 fi'iglits, changes, horrors, 
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate 
The unity and married calm of states 
Qnite from their fixture ! O, wireu degree is slrak'd, 
Whicli is the ladder of all high designs, 
TJie enterprise is sick '. Hoiv could communities, 
Degrees in schools, and brnlhcrhoods in cities, 
Peaceful commerce from dividahle shores, 
The prim genitive and dice «/' liirth, 
Prerogatirc of age, crowns, sctqitres, laurels, 
But by degree, stand in aittlienlic place ? 
Take but degree away, un.tuns that siring 
And hark, what discord follows ! each thing meets 
In mere oppugnancy. The bounded waters 
Should lift their bosoms liigher Uian the shores 
And make a sop of all tliis solid globe. 
Strength should be lord of imbecility, 
And the rude son should stril.ie his father dead : 
I<"orcc should be right ; or, rather, riglu and wrong 
(Between whose endless jar justice resides) 
SlioulJ lose their names, and so should justice too. 
Then every tiling includes itself in power, 
Power into will, will into appetite ; 
And appetite an universal wolf, 
■ So doubly seconded with will and, power, 
Must make perforce an universal prey, 
And, last, eat up Inmself. Great Aganreinuoii, 
This chaos, when degree is srift'ocate, 
Follows the choking. / 

And this neglect ion of degree It is, ^ ^ 
Thai, by apace gees backward, with a purpose 
It hath to climb. The General 's disdain'd 
By him one ste)) below ; lie, by the next ; 
Tiiat next, by liiin beneath ; so every step, 
Exampled by the fust pace that is sicli 
Of liis superior, grows to an envious fever 
Of paie and bloodless emulation : 
And 'tis this fever that keeps Ti-oy on foot, 
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length, 
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength." 

It will not bs necessary that T comment at any 
length upon particular parts of the above noble 
composition. The comprehensiveness, beauty, 
and truth of the ideas, will be recognised and 
deeply felt by all whose natures contain even 
the smallest leaven of genius. Where the affec- 
tions and the intellect are occupied and choked 
by false and dull matter, there will be a total 
imperviousness to the admission of all such truth ; 
but, In this case, the diffieulty of perception will 
arise out of the inaptitude of the recipient, whose 
purification and elevation cannot be effected by 
any description or mere human argument that 
can be advanced. 

The first portion of the passage which I will 
notice is that of " the speciality of rule." ' These 
words require great meditation to be applied to 
them. It will then be seen that they have a 
meaning the most comprehensive, as they signify 
the great general principle to be superinduced 
over every community of people. The author 
declares that this " speciality of rule" can be re- 
alized only by the strict observance of a great 
law, that of degree or proportion, whose benefi- 
cial and all-regulating agency he depicts, as also 
the ill effects resulting from its infraction ; and 
then, applying this law to the subject of political 
economy, he comprises the vast interests of a na- 
tion in one and the following expressive line : — 

" The unity and married calm of states." 
Thus maintainuig, by a beautiful metaphor, that 
the principle by which the interests of persons 
who are joined together in communities or king- 
doms, are constructed and cemented, is identical 
with that which appertains to persons miited by 
marriage. 

He then proceeds to describe the consequences 
of a rejection of the law of wholesome restraint, 



or the adoption of the free principle, maintaining 
that, under such a state, v/ill, power, and appetite, 
combine and conflict, and eventually bring about 
both general and self-destruction. 

The following passage clearly expresses also 
the effects whicli result from the agency of the 
free principle : 

" And this neglection of degree it is, 
That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose 
It hath to climl)." 

As coinciding with this idea, I have shown, in 
the body of my_ argument, that advancement or 
improvement being intended, the reverse occurs. 

I now propose to show, in what way the mat- 
ter of my argument is applicable to the great and 
important subject of education. Upon entering 
on the consideration of this interesting and mo. 
mentous question, it will be necessary, in the fii-st 
place, to reflect on the true meaning of education or 
instruction. It will be evident, that one of its most 
essential elements consists in its being a method of 
employing the faculties of the mind in acquiring 
such knowledge as may enable the possessors to 
assist in working out the variety of matter wloich 
God has created for the use of man. It is this 
peculiar and economical feature of the subject, 
which the advocates of secular instruction rely 
upon as leading to the good result which they 
profess to wish to bring abouls They assert, as 
their conclusion, that there is deficiency @f pro- 
duction. If this conclusion were true, their view 
of the effect of secular instruction would be cor- 
rect ; but I contend that, by the matter which I 
have brought forward and arranged, it is estab- 
lished that the evils deplored, — the poverty and 
destitution of a great portion of the people, — have 
been engendered by the fact of false education or 
false instruction, abetted by a bad, selfish, or per- 
verted will, whereby a wrong principle has been 
attached to production. The error consists in 
tills wrong principle of production, and not m a 
deficiency, and the evil has not sprung from the 
agency, either active or defective, of the poor and 
destitute themselves, but from the active and in- 
jurious agency of those members of commimity 
who are held in estimation as the well-educated 
or well-instructed. 

For in applying the faculties of the mind and 
the powers of the body to the matter of nature, 
attention has not been paid to the social or moral 
principle by which these faculties should have been 
directed. Thus, in all the investigations of sci- 
ence, the inventions of art, and the efforts of gen- 
eral industry, the object of those engaged in these 
great pursuits has been, in far too great a degree, 
selfish gratification and worldly and secular ad- 
vancement. In general, little reference has been 
made to the effect which such pursuits and enjoy- 
ments would have upon the physical condition of 
other members of the community, while conflic- 
tion of interests and competition have been up- 
held as sources of public welfare. 

The exclusion of so many members from a 
rightful participation in the general property or 
capital, is ewing to such education or instruction, 
impelled by a bad or unsocial will, whereby the 
general capital has received injury. Instead, 
therefore, of secular instruction being in its na- 
ture a remedy, it is tiie reverse ; for it is the ori- 
ginal disorder of the state, or the caiilier which has 



80 



Political Economy. 



for ages been inaldng its sure and pernicious ad- 
vances into the physical well-being of the commu- 
nity; preventing the eduction of good, and Jke- 
wise destroying a portion of that good wliicli has 
been educed. 

Thus a false system of political economy has 
by degrees been set up. Its pernicious and fatal 
doctrines have been insinuated into the affections 
and minds of the people, with unwearied assiduity. 
AVcak, ill-instructed, though self-satisfied writers, 
concealing tlieir errors amidst the confusion and 
obscurity which the numerous and complicated 
circiunstanccs of the state afforded, have dissem- 
inated these doctrines, whilst statesmen similarly 
incapable and ill-constructed, have, without the 
least compunction of conscience, proceeded upon 
administration, and have urged for practice tlie 
false coiu'se thus propounded. 

The only course by which the existing disorder 
or state emergency can be alleviated, is tlie agree- 
ing to a right principle of action, and the a])plica- 
tion of this principle to the circumstances of the 
ci'untry. It will be evident that this is the only 
method whereby the desired end can be altaijied, 
which is, that they who are now in poverty and 
destitution, sliall become invested with riglits 
wliich the Creator Jias ordained as their, inherit- 
ance, so that they may be enabled to educate and 
instruct themsplves and their children ; by which 
means the beneficial fact of education, instead of 
being the result of state contribution or charity, 
will be the fruit or effect of labor rightly directed 
andjustlv appreciated. But to attempt to effect 
the object by tlie wrong or f;.lse principle, upon 
which a plan of simple secular instruction is ba- 
sed, will be to evpand the desire of enjoyment, and 
at the same time to contract the means by wliich 
alone the desire can be satisfied. 

l^pon the view of the question which has now 
been set forth, 1 contend, that they who assent to 
apian of education, or secular instruction, with- 
out the religion t)f Christ prefixed, as being the on- 
ly tiue regulator of moral and physical power, 
are guiltj^of the renunciation of the revealed law 
or will of God. They render themselves agents 
of the evil spirit, whose operation they profess to 
deplore and to op])ose. By urguig on the dcsti-iJc- 
tivc influence of competition, or indiscruninato 
production, tliey will depress in a still greater de- 
gree than is done at present, the physical condi- 
tion of many of their fellow-countrymen; and 
furtliermoro, thev will extend the circle of sulTer- 
ing, so that it will include many who are now 
unembraced by it. If sucli a system of instruc- 
tion should receive tke sanction of the legislature, 
tlie nation will be placed, in regard to religion, in 
tlic 1 osilion in \\ hieli St. Paid found the Athenian 
state, wlien lie lamented and exclaimed, because 
lie saw an altar with an insi;ri])tion " To the Un- 
known God.'V 

It ia the upholding the false view against wliicli 
I ha\e now ar^ u.tliati - lishes many j)ersons 
with a pretext on which t i decry the iiiBtitution 
and I'bscrvance of the .Sabbath. On proceeding 
to object against the policy of the sacred ordi- 
nance, the fact which they jiut iiroiiiinenllv for- 
ward for attention, is tlie nninber of poor and de.sli- 
tiitc pcrf5onH who arejwishing to have enij>li)ymoMt 
lor tl cir labor. T\\cy then argue, thiit it is un- 



their faculties during one day in seven, and that 
if the restraint were removed and they were per- 
mitted to work, the fruit of labor, or the general 
fund of production, would be increased, and thus 
their wants relieved. 

But wlien a check is given to hasty and ill-con- 
sidered assertion, and we proceed to examine with 
minuteness and accuracy, the real and entire 
scope and nature of the great question, we find 
that labor is at present superabundant ; tliat the 
general capital is not adequate to the emplo3'ment 
of those who desire to labor ; therefore, the add- 
ing at once a quantity of labor to tlie general 
stock, equal to a sixth of that already in opera- 
tion or employed, must necessarily increase the 
evil, by diminishing the earnings of the laborers. 
The error in the case now adduced, arises from 
the wrong calculations to which I have so fre- 
quently adverted. The various writers on Politi- 
cal Economy, and the statesmen who have fol- 
lowed in their track, having had the sphere of 
their vision so confined as to be able to view pro- 
duction only in its character of singularity ,they 
have been wliolly unable to argue correctly upon 
the facts of a plurality and exchange of produc- 
tions. Having succeeded in working out the first 
or simple proposition, it was their duty to have 
persevered until thej' had succeeded also in work- 
ing out the last or compound proposition ; but 
in every attempt to accomplish this they have 
failed. 

Thus, it will be obvious, how very easy it is to 
place the semblance of truth and justice upon 
the issues of a false principle, for all who are not 
scrupulous about the fact of whether they may be 
arguing rightly or wrongly, and, moreover, that 
the admission of a false principle may bring about 
tlic entire derangement of a great, holy, and uni- 
versal plan. 

Every person who has meditated well and deeply 
on the nature of the science of Political Economy, 
or the principle of General Government, cannot 
fail to have perceived that its earliest adaptation 
to human necessity', involves the great courses of 
action which were presented in the ease of our 
first parents, the account of which lias been con- 
veyed to us b}^ the sacred writers. Thus from 
the- commencement of man's appropriatiim of the 
gifts of liis Creator, we have two courses open 
ibr his choice, — the free, and the restrictive. 

The advocates of the former declare and en- 
deavor to persuade, tliat all things are given un- 
reservedly for tlii^ use of man. That God has 
adapted one climate to some peculiar purposes, — 
Bnd another climate to other peculiar purposes. 
'I'hat one soil is suited to .some kind of produc- 
tion, whilst another soil brings forth productions 
of a difierent character. That a similar variety 
exists in the corporeal ajitifudes and the menial 
faculties of men. Tiiat some possess the desire 
and power of efll'Ctiug one object, — while others 
jjossess the desire and power of effecting different 
purposes. Tiiat these peculiarities, diflereiices, 
and advantages, together with all other natural 
varieties, would not iiave been created, unless it 
had been intended that they should be used. 
Hence they eouelude, that as (jod has freely 
given, so man may as freely direct, appropriate, 
and enjoy. On the otiier hand, the command of 



just and cruel to j)revciil tlicsc persons exerting I God is put forward, whieii declares, — 1 enjoin 



The Free Trade Principle Licentious. 



81 



restraint, — I prohibit. It is true I have created 
the world replete with beauty, and stored with 
advantageous matter. The fund is ample. To 
you I give — to you I entrust. But, mark ! This 
fund is to be developed by your labor. In order 
to effect this development, you will have to en- 
ter upon great and numerous divisions and sub- 
divisions of employment. Each person will have 
to contribute assistance by the exercise of indus- 
try, ingenuity, and care, and thus there will be 
mutual and general support and dependence. I 
esteem you as one family, and have so arranged 
that all are sufficiently included by my regard, 
my providence, my care, my love. For accom- 
plishing my great scheme I annex to the matter 
which I furnish for you, an unalterable condition 
or law ; — the law of restraint. Self-denial or self- 
renunciation will be required of you ; that is, I 
enjoin each of you to keep his desires in a state 
of perfect compatibility- with the good of others. 
By the recognition and the observance of this 
rule you will render 3rourselves Just. Such, to- 
gether with other specified laws of i-estraint, will 
form the substance of your great trial. If obe- 
dience be observed on your part, then pleasure 
and acceptance will follow on my part. If diso- 
bedience occur with you, then displeasure and re- 
jection will occur with me. 

To this the advocates of the free principle must 
reply. We admire and accept all the richness, 
the beauty, and the deliciousness of creation, 
but we reject the condition. We will not ac- 
knowledge the necessity or the wisdom of the 
restrictive or prohibitive law. If one country 
offers to us more deUcious food, more beautiful 
apparel, or whatever else it may be in which our 
natural inclinations delight, we will have them 
unrestrainedly. If our desires prompt us to seek 
a more delightful climate, to enjoy more capti- 
vating scenes of natural beauty, we will be re- 
strained from the enjoyment by no inquiry as to 
the injm'y that may accrue to our fellow-crea- 
tiu"cs. But we wiU quit our native land, and only 
retm'n to it when our appetite for change is ap- 
peased, when the sources of our gratifications 
are exhausted, or when our interest renders it 
necessary that we resort to it for the purpose of 
using its advantages. In the pursuit of wealth 
we will acknowledge no other guide than that of 
our own interest. We put to silence all objection 
on this head by declaring, that the interest and 
good of others are involved in the interest and 
good of ourselves. Thus the unrestricted pursuit 
of art, of science of wealth, and of pleasure, 
shall be the course in wliich we will direct the 
ever-active spirit of our being. 

There is a passage m the sacred writings 
which describes with peculiar, forcible, and ap- 
palling accuracy, the sinfulness of such a course 
of selfish action, and its destructive effects upon 
states. In this description, the abandonment of 
the general and social duty which is affixed by 
the law of God to the possession of all property, 
and the substitution of the passion of self-aggran- 
disement and self-indulgence, are characterised 
by the strong and expressive term of committing 
fornication with the world. Another extensive 
and prominent disease of a depraved, luxurious, 
and selfish generation, is also selected and con- 
demned, namely, the placing reliance upon those 



very facts which constitute the evil itself. The 
perpetual boasting of how great things can be 
done by the ingenuity and enterprise of man, and 
of the enlightened state of his understanding. 
This is characterised by the term self-glorification. 
The matter occurs in the 18th Chapter of the 
Book of Revelations, and is as follows : 

"And after these things I saw another angel 
come down from heaven, having great power; 
and the earth was lightened with his glory. 

" And he cried mightily with a strong voice, 
saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and 
is become the habitation of devils, and the hold 
of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean 
and hateful birjd- 

" For all nations have drunk of the wine of 
the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of 
the earth have committed fornication with her, 
and the merchants of the earth are loaxed rich 
through the abundance of her delicacies. 

" And I heard another voice from heaven, say- 
ing, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of 
her plagues. 

" For her sins have reached unto heaven, and 
God hath remembered her iniquities. 

" Reward her even as she rewarded you, and 
double unto her double according to her works : 
in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 

" How much she hath glorified herself, and 
lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow 
give her : for shesaith in her heart, I sit a queen, 
and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 

" Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, 
death, and mourning, and famine ; and she shall 
be utterly burned with fire : for strong is the Lord 
God who judgeth her. 

" And the kings of the earth, ivho have corn- 
mitted fornication and lived deliciously toith her, 
shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they 
shall see the smoke of her burning. 

" Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, 
saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that 
mighty city I for in one hour is thy judgement 
come. 

" And the merchants of the earth shall weep 
and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their 
merchandise any more. 

'■ The merchandise of gold, and^ silver, and 
precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and 
purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, 
Jindall jaanner vessels of ivory, and all manner 
vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and 
iron, and marble, 

" And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, 
and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine 
flom-, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and hor- 
ses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 

" And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are 
departed from thee, and all things wliich were 
dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and 
thou shalt find them no more at all. 

" The merchants of these things, which were 
made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear 
of her torment, weeping and wailing, 

" And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that 
was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, 
and decked with gold, and precious stones, and 
pearls ! 

" For in one hour so great riches is come to 



82 



Political Economy. 



nought. And every ship-master, and all the com- 
pany in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade 
by sea, stood afar off. 

" And cried when they savr the smoke of her 
bm-ning, saying, What city is like imto this great 
city ! 

" And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, 
weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that 
great city, wherein were made rich all that liad 
ships in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for 
in one hour is she made desolate. 

" Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and yc holy 
apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you 
on her. 

" And a mighty angel took u[) a stone like a 
great millstone, and cast it mto the sea, saying, 
Thus with violence shall that great city iJaby- 
lon be thrown down, and shall be found no more 
at all. 

" And the voice of harpers, and musicians, 
and of pij)ers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no 
more at all in thee ; and no craftsman, of what- 
soever craft he he, shall be found any more in 
thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard 
no more at all in thee ; 

" And tlie light of a candle shall shine no more 
at all in thee ; and the voice of tlie bridegroom 
and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in 
thee : for thy merchants were the great men of 
the earth ; for by thy sorceries were all nations 
deceived. 

" And in her was 'found the blood of prophets, 
and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the 
earth." 

It remains for me now to urge a most particu- 
lar and patient consideration of the nature of the 
spiritual principle, as distinguished from, and su- 
perior to, all that is material. 

The more the adoption of the spirit of Christ 
into the affections approaches fuhicss or i)crfec. 
tion, the more clear will the perception become of 
the real nature of spirit, as distinct from that of 
matter. It will be evident that the spirit of truth 
— which involves the principle of good or just 
government — must have existed anteriorly to the 
existence of man upon the earth. The advent 
of Christ was a descent of this spli-it, which is of 
superhuman or divine origin ; lience his being or 
life was anterior to the existence of the entire 
race of men. The material adaptation or as- 
sumption was effected by means of a member of 
the human family, but the spiritual or superior 
element was entirely distinct, and eternally pre- 
, existent. "" 

Tlie operation of liis spirit, or the emanation 
of tlic principle of just government, with its ad- 
mirable property of universality of application, 
have been fully set forth in the following magnifi- 
cent and well-known passage in the writings of 
the prophet Isaiah : — " l'"or unto us a child is 
born, unto us a son is given : and the government 
shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall 
be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty 
(jlod, The Everliisting Father, I'he I'rince of 
Peace. Of the increase of his government and 
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of 
David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to 
ostablish it with judgement and with justice 
from henceforth even for ever." 

Here the principle of universal sj»irilual gov- 



ernment is clearly and substantially stated. It is 
to descend — to expand, and to be co- extensive 
with the extension of the human familv, or to be 
conveyed into every nation of the world, ^y it 
the spiritual nature of man is to be brought to an. 
unerring test. As we trust to the cfiicacious re- 
medy which it proffers, and evince toward it as- 
sent, love, and conformity of life, so shall we be 
rendered fit for the superior state of existence 
which is promised to us. As we dissent from, 
reject, or rebel against it, and thus invade and 
break the benignant unity of the spirit, so will 
our natures continue to be unsubmissive 'o right, 
and ourselves unfit to be members of a good gov- 
ernment. 

Unhappily for themselves, and for those of the 
human family who have dwelt within the range 
of their influence, there have been many men, 
who, attaching themselves to the inferior ele- 
ment — matter — have become so immersed in its 
intricacies, that, relying solely on intellectual ef- 
fort, they have been incapable of emerging from 
the darkness in which they have involved them- 
selves, and, being thus enthralled, pride, the 
strong and enslaving passion, binding them in an 
adherence to their own views and conclusions, 
has prevented them from adopting the one and 
the only remedy. 

This deviation from the straight course of truth, 
has generally been commenced by calling in ques- 
tion the divine origin of Christ, and thus attempt- 
ing to bring down or degrade his nature to the 
level of the nature of man. The next step has 
been to call in question the character, or to dete- 
riorate the true meaning of the doctrines which 
he has promulgated, and, by specious arguments, 
to tempt men from a perfect obedience to the rule 
of life which lie has laid down ; thus endeavor- 
ing to render the revelation of God, or the divine 
will, secondary or- subordinate to the judgement 
of man. Now the judgement of man is a tribu- 
nal so inadequate to the apprehejisiou of truth, 
that if two ]>ersons be selected from any commu- 
nity on earth, who are reputed to be the wisest of 
that community, we shall find them difl'ering in 
judgement on the most important general subjects 
that may be submitted for their decision. If tliis 
want of power or of knowledge be the fact in the 
instances of the two who are selected as promi- 
nent examples of sui)eriority, liow greatly must 
the general inferiority increase as we descend the 
scale of human acquirement and power, until we 
arrive at that part of it where exists the lowest 
and least ca])al)le. How beneficent, then ! how 
beautiful I and how worthy of all admiration and 
gratitude is that scheme whicii has been ordained 
for the purpose of rectifying, by one simple j)ro- 
ccss, all this mass of inferiority and ignorance 1 
and which, by the power of faith in u piomulga- 
ted truth, purifies the affections, directs the actions, 
and equalises the capacities of all to the rctjuircd 
standard I 

It will be obvious that, in the constitution of 
such a j)lan, it must have been consistent witli the 
all-consitlcrate goodness of the Creator, that cxclu- 
sivencss should not exist ; and tiius it is that the 
sj)irit or truth of tliis scheme, is not in accordance 
with the advantages possessed by the rich, or with 
the power atquired by the learned ; for, if it were so, 
the greater i>arlof munliijid must necessarily have 



Conclusion. 



83 



been excluded from participation. But although 
the poor, the humble, and the illiterate cannot rise 
to, or identify themselves with the chcumstances 
attendant upon the state of the rich, the exalted, 
and the learned, yet the possessors of wealth, the 
greatly esteemed of the world, and those who have 
had the opportunity of cultivating their intellect- 
ual faculties, can easily stoop to the level of the 
poor and humble. In accordance, then, with the 
circumstances of the latter, the truth must ever 
have existed, and so is the plan formed, thus rcal- 
izmg the benign object of inclusivcness, or the pos- 
sibility o^ universal reception and enjoyment. 

It is under a fatal defection from this scheme 
that volimies have been wr-itten, evincing skill, 
perseverance, and elaborate research ; but, the 
light of the spirit of truth being absent, error is 
the ruling principle of such works, and the ten- 
dency of them injurious, in the highest degree, 
to public morals, and destructive of the public 
welfare. 

There are many persons, who, attaching them- 
selves to the essential properties of matter, by 
carelessly and culpably placing their affections on 
the enjoyment which the material things of the 
world afford them, have become imwilling to ac- 
knowledge that any social duty is attached to 
the possession of property or power ; and, by 
keeping themselves constantly within the circle 
of selfish indulgence, are become insensible or 
indifferent with respect to the real state of things 
which awaits them after death. Such persons 
either repress altogether every advance towards 
reflection upon this awful subject, or, if theu- 
minds be unavoidably led into a train of reflec- 
tion, they check the advance towards truth, by 



encouraging the fatal delusion that accountability 
will not hereafter be demanded of them, for the 
exercise and indulgence of passions which they 
have found implanted in their natures. 

Whilst such is the deceitful and self-compla- 
cent expectation of many, there are other persons 
who, having devoted their faculties to the investi- 
gation of natural laws, have permitted their 
affections and intellects to become so thoroughly 
identified with matter, as to be willing that their 
entire being shall descend or be resolved into this 
dull and senseless element. These anticipate 
nothing better or worse after death than a sink- 
ing into a state of inert existence. They con- 
sole themselves by the false and fatal belief that 
death is an eternal sleep ; whereas, if they had 
chosen to have advanced into the exalted regions 
of spirit, conducted by the light offered to them 
by Christ, they would have discerned and com- 
prehended the real law, and the social operation 
of physics, by the aid of a pure and holy meta- 
physics. Then they would have become assured 
of the sublime though awful fact, that the spirit 
of man cannot thus perish. That the soul will 
participate elsewhere, and for ever, in the doom 
assigned to that spirit whicli it has served here. 
That the terms of regeneration, direction, and 
final acceptance are offered freely to all — that 
all arc included in the same regard, the same 
love, or the same law, from the person who occu- 
pies the throne to the poorest person of the realm P 
and that fitness or unfitness for the perpetual en- 
joyment of the society of the just, will finally 
be declared by the same pure, unerring, and glo- 
rious Spirit who alone has imparted perfect truth 
to the world. 



THE END. 



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